.http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050715-9999-7m15cliffs.html

 Scenic trail system also in the works

By Kristen Green
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

July 15, 2005

For 15 years, residents of Point Loma and Ocean Beach wrestled with how to protect Sunset Cliffs Park. In dozens of public meetings, they struggled over how much access should be provided to dangerous public beaches and whether to use native plants.

While they were trying to develop a plan, the cliffs continued to erode and more of the native habitat was trampled.

Yesterday, a master plan to guide development and aid in the protection of the 68-acre park was given formal approval by the state Coastal Commission. It clears the way for San Diego to apply for grants to improve the park and hire a consultant to conduct drainage studies.

The plan, which was adopted by the City Council in December, outlines policies to address drainage and erosion control, protect and improve public beach access, create access trails and reconfigure parking areas next to the bluffs.

The master plan also recognizes that the park is a unique resource and one of the few remaining places where a park could feature preserved cliffs, a coastal terrace and native vegetation.

Katie Klumpp, who lives next to the park, urged the Coastal Commission to approve the master plan "before this neglected park washes into the sea."

"I'm thrilled," Klumpp said of the decision. "This has been a long, long haul."

Camilla Ingram, chairwoman of the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Recreation Council, which created guidelines for the master plan, was excited about the outcome, too.

"This is the most wonderful thing that could have happened to this park," Ingram said.

Ingram said the community held many meetings to try to reacha consensus about the future of the site. People who initially opposed the idea of a natural park came around, she said.

With the master plan's approval, Ingram said, the community can now focus its efforts on protecting the natural resource, which offers sweeping views of the cliffs and the Pacific Ocean.

The plan calls for restoring areas that were neglected and damaged by drainage problems residents and activists have complained about for years.

The park lacks sufficient storm drains to funnel stormwater and irrigation system runoff, which weaken the cliffs and cause them to collapse, Ingram said. Money has already been set aside for the drainage study, city officials said.

The master plan also calls for developing a comprehensive scenic trail system that would maximize views but respect the natural topography, and would use existing trails as the basic guide.

The coastal trail would start at Sunset Cliffs' Linear Park, west of the intersection of Adair Street and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, and extend to the southernmost boundary of Hillside Park.

When the proposed plan for the park went before the Coastal Commission yesterday, only one divisive issue remained, the future of a playing field used by Point Loma Nazarene University's softball team.

Several speakers at the public hearing urged the commission to protect the 1.4-acre field, where the team has played for 20 years, and said they would be sorry to see the playing field destroyed.

David Williams, the head softball coach for Point Loma Nazarene, said the park is well-used by residents, who bring their dogs and children to enjoy the views.

"The community wants the park to be kept there," he told the commission.

But Greg Raines, who lives on Tivoli Street, said the field should be restored to a natural state, as the master plan suggests. He said having the field there was not appropriate.

"It's like putting a freeway through the middle of a natural habitat," he said.

But the city staff, environmentalists and community residents mostly agreed that the new plan needed to be adopted. The plan calls for an end to irrigating the softball field and replanting that land with native vegetation.

The Coastal Commission staff had recommended that the city's master plan not be approved with only the modifications they suggested. But after residents urged the commission not to reject the plan, saying such a vote would require the master plan to be sent back to the City Council for approval and would further delay the project, commission staffers forfeited their request.

They asked instead for city buy-in to the recommended modifications to the plan. The Coastal Commission unanimously approved the master plan.