Solana Beach Tennis Club Seawall Revised Findings

The Solana Beach and Tennis Club shoreline armoring project was reviewed at the January 2016 Coastal Commission hearing and would have involved maintaining and expanding five existing sea cave infills with an additional 75-foot long “erodible” concrete notch in the coastal bluff. According to the applicant, the action was not currently critical to the structures on the coastal bluff, but was intended to protect beachgoers.

Commissioner Dayna Bochco asked the applicant to withdraw the application and resubmit a scaled-down test project version in order to ensure the material was truly erodible as proposed. The applicant opted not to withdraw and thus the application was denied in a vote of 9:2. Commissioners made it clear they do not want a large concrete experiment on the beach. The revised findings reflect the Commissioners’ direction that the applicant must test the erodibility of the proposed “erodible concrete” infill before it can be implemented in a larger scale project.

Commissioner Kinsey moved to adopt the revised findings and the motion passed unanimously.

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The approval of the revised findings iterates that seacave infills can have negative effects on the surrounding bluffs that they become a part of, with bluffs continuing to erode around and behind the infill. The proposed infill material was “erodible” in theory, but no evidence supported that claim – and 75 feet of coastal bluff should not be used as a test subject. As climate change causes waves and weather to gain in intensity resulting in growing coastal impacts, hard-structures must not be our default response, but viewed with a critical eye.