DEL MAR, Calif. — The Del Mar City Council is asking the California Coastal Commission to intervene in plans to build a seawall along the Del Mar Bluffs to prevent erosion that threatens the rail line between San Diego and Orange County.
The San Diego Union Tribune reports the city council will send a representative to today’s coastal commission meeting, at which the San Diego Association of Governments — the regional planning agency that is parent of the North County Transit District, which owns the rail line — will present its plan for more than 2,500 feet of seawall, stabilizing pilings, and other improvements on a 1.6-mile segment of the bluffs. The city wants the improvements made more slowly to reduce their environmental impact.
“We have grave concerns about the effects of extensive seawalls on the Del Mar beach below the bluff,” council member Terry Gaasterland told the newspaper.
This would be the fifth phase of the bluffs stabilization project, expected to cost about $68 million, and is designed to protect the rail line for 30 or more years, and Long-term goals are to move the rail line inland.
Concerns over the NCTD’s ability to carry out its stabilization project, along its longstanding desire to build a safety fence to deter trespassers on the track, led the transit agency to seek a Surface Transportation Board insuring it had control over the projects in 2020. After several delays while the transit district, coastal commission, and Del Mar attempted to negotiate an agreement, the transit district asked the STB to act earlier this year [see “Transit agency to move ahead …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 10, 2022]. The matter is still pending.
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