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| Read The Latest Updates | Photo of Rockpile from 1947 |
| What's At Stake? | Photo of Rockpile from 1972 |
| Photo of Rockpile from 1941 | More On This Proposed Project |
The City of Laguna Beach is planning to renovate Heisler Park. While the Laguna Beach Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation is generally supportive of the City's plan to renovate Heisler Park and believe that some of the proposed plans will improve the park, we are opposed to the construction of a seawall/bulkhead at Rockpile Beach that is being proposed.
Update - February 2006
On Thursday, January 19th, the City of Laguna Beach’s Design Review Board both certified the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and granted a Coastal Development Permit for the renovation of Heisler Park. While generally supportive of this project, the Laguna Beach Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation had concerns regarding the approaches being considered to manage the erosion at Rockpile beach. Thanks to your support and the good work of the Laguna Beach Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, Ocean Laguna and local activists, this project has been dramatically improved.
Over the almost 2 years that this clumsy EIR process went on we were able to work with the City of Laguna Beach to make several very important improvements to the project. For example, instead of armoring a large part of the beach along the northern half of the cove at Rockpile (from “raftpile” to the “waterfall”) the City is going to extend the existing wall along the top of the bluff. We believe this will be less disruptive of natural erosional processes that help maintain the beaches and also more aesthetically appealing than a bulkhead and seawall. The City has also decided to move the stairs at Rockpile from their current location (a place that is constantly eroding) south to the location of the goat trails in the middle of the cove, which is on more stable bedrock and will lead the stairs to the sandiest part of the beach.
Although the current plans are a dramatic improvement to the project, we were disappointed that the City didn’t take the most progressive approach to addressing the erosion at Rockpile by applying a managed retreat strategy. A managed retreat strategy would have moved the trail back (something they are doing at Diver’s Cove) away from the erosion to let the bluffs erode naturally. We believe in the long run that this approach would be less expensive, less disruptive of natural process and a longer-term solution.
The City still must raise millions of dollars to make the renovation so construction will not start any time soon. Thank you again for your support.
Update - August 2005
We're still waiting for the City to release the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on this project, which will include responses to our comments submitted in January. There will also be a meeting and display in Heisler Park of depictions of the project features and there will be a Design Review Board meeting to further discuss and approve aspects of the project. Look for all of this in another month or so.
April 2005
The final EIR for this project is in preparation. We believe that city projects like this with potential environmental impacts would go a lot smoother if the city had updated CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) guidelines. We are doing some research on this and we plan to develop draft guidelines for the city's consideration within the next few months.
Spring 2005
The good news is that the City has agreed with us and is recommending building new stairs to the south where there is a "goat path" down to a landing on soild bedrock as a replacement for the existing stairs which will continue to be a problem due to the geological instability there.
February 2005
Based in large part on complaints by Surfrider that the city did not provide the community with adequate notice and time to comment on their plans to renovate Heisler Park and address erosion problems at Rockpile, the city extended the comment period on the EIR until March 11 and has posted the EIR and other documents on their web site.
January 2005
Good News! The City has backed away from the idea of constructing a large bulkhead/seawall at Rockpile. They have put out an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the entire Heisler Park renovation which focuses largely on the Rockpile erosion issue. The City’s current plans include possibly extending the existing white wall under the pathway to cover the eroding portion of the trail. Of course, we note that an additional large hunk of cliff just gave way north of the stairs, so stay tuned as the area keeps slip slidin' away.
Thanks to those of you who attended our meeting at Gina’s Pizza in North Laguna on January 5 to learn more about the Heisler Park Renovation plans and discuss some of the options for Rockpile. We incorporated you comments into a letter submitted to the city on January 7.
November 2004
The city has hired a consultant to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the planned renovations at Heisler Park, specifically focusing on the proposed bulkhead (seawall) at Rockpile. Our chapter is opposed to this coastal armoring and believes that a managed retreat option is more consustant with the character of the park. The draft EIR is expected to be completed and available for comment in late November.
June 2, 2004
Dear Friends of Rockpile:
RE: City Council Meeting Update
Thanks for sending in your emails and faxes to the Laguna Beach City Council opposing the seawall/bulkhead at Rockpile. It was clear that the City Council received many letters. Last night the City Council was voting on the Conceptual Plan for the renovation of Heisler Park. While we are supportive of many aspects of the renovation, we are opposed to construction of a seawall/bulkhead at Rock Pile.
Unfortunately, despite our last minute effort to express opposition, the City Council voted 3-1 in favor of making the preferred alternative for Rockpile the construction of a seawall/bulkhead. Wayne Baglin, Cheryl Kinsman and Steve Dicterow voted in favor of this. Toni Iseman voted against it. Elizabeth Pearson was absent.
Toni Iseman, who also sits on the California Coastal Commission – the statewide agency that makes permitting decisions on the coast, stated “Why are we wasted time and money on this alternative when it will be Dead on Arrival when it reaches the Coastal Commission”. We believe she is correct.
We are opposed to the seawall/bulkhead because it will require massive engineering of the bluff, will not be aesthetically pleasing, isn’t fitting with the character of the park, and will interrupt natural erosion and beach processes.
This decision is particularly a shame because a very good alternative called “managed retreat” exists and was presented as well. This alternative would simply move the trail back and allow natural erosion processes to occur. We believe this alternative is superior because it will reduce interference with natural erosion processes, is in keeping with the harmonious relationship Heisler Park maintains with the natural environmental, and will not turn our park into an artificial Disneyland-like place.
The primary reason the City Council gave for opposing the managed retreat approach was that it would result in loss of land in the park. This is an absurd notion, considering that according to the architect’s plans the natural retreat option would result in a loss of less than 1.38% of the park’s land. This notion gets even more absurd when one considers that this land wouldn’t even be lost but instead changed from a path to a garden, much like other areas of the park.
Fortunately, this is very early in the game so there will be many opportunities to convince the City Council that armoring the bluffs at Rockpile is not a good idea and will be opposed by the California Coastal Commission. The Laguna Beach Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation will be looking more closely at the science, contacting the relevant state agencies and reaching out the community to express our opposition to this poorly conceived plan. We need your help to spread that word that we need to “Keep Rockpile Natural”.
Please send me an email if you would like to be added to our Friends of Rockpile email update list. We will be holding community meetings soon to discuss this issue further.
Thank you for your support and concern. Feel free to call or email me with any questions or comments.
Chad Nelsen
cnelsen@surfrider.org
949-492-8170
Heisler Park, Laguna Beach, 1941
This is a photograph of Rockpile taken in 1941. Notice all the sand in the foreground of this picture. If you visit the beach today you will not find any sand along that southern stretch of the beach.
Heisler Park, Laguna Beach, 1947
This photo shows Heisler park in its early days. The coves at the bottom of the card are Rockpile. This picture was taken at a very low tide, but you can see wide sandy beaches at Rockpile. The natural processes that created this beautiful shoreline should not be interrupted.
Heisler Park, Laguna Beach, 1972
Notice the small path crossing the area most prone to erosion just North of the stairs down to the beach. This bluff face looks like it is already eroding. Photo: Copyright © 2002-2004 Kenneth Adelman, California Coastal Records Project.
1. More information on our position>>>
2. Our vision for Managed Retreat>>>
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