Seawall Project at Sharp Park Under Scrutiny

Either the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department's internal environmental review procedures failed, or their description of the project was misleading. Whatever the case, the job to renovate the seawall fronting Pacifica's Sharp Park Golf Course has been interrupted for violating the California Coastal Act.

According to the Surfrider Foundation San Francisco Chapter, the California Coastal Commission determined that San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department (SFRPD) illegally expanded the seawall in front of the Sharp Park Golf Course by adding new armoring without proper permitting or environmental review. 

Now the City of San Francisco through Steve Castile, Golf and Turf Manager of McLaren Lodge-Golden Gate Park, has to submit an after-the-fact Coastal Development Permit application for authorization of the work that has already occurred, as well as any additional work that is proposed, according to Coastal Program Analyst Stephanie Rexing of the California Coastal Commission.

In late February, Surfrider learned that the seawall fronting Sharp Park Golf Course, which is owned by the City of San Francisco, would be closed for renovation from Feb. 23-25. The SFRPD told Surfrider that the renovation work would consist of re-grading a path on the crown of the berm.

However, observations made at the site showed that additional boulders were placed on the beach. This new armoring was done without proper permitting or environmental review, which precluded the public from weighing in on the project, according to Bill McLaughlin, who chairs the Erosion Committee of the Surfrider Foundation San Francisco Chapter. This armoring was unexpected because SFRPD’s Sharp Park Working Group announced in 2011 that “the seawall should not be further armored or heightened,” and because SFRPD’s public notice for the project stated that it would only grade the path on the seawall’s crown.

“Much of the public’s beach in Pacifica is already buried under piles of boulders. Adding new armor to protect a nearby golf course is just not appropriate,” said McLaughlin. “Sea level rise and long term coastal erosion patterns are a looming threat to all our regional coastlines. If beaches like Pacifica’s are to survive, shorelines need to be able to migrate landward.”

The Surfrider Foundation is concerned about the cumulative impacts of coastal armoring on beaches throughout the region. Placing large boulders on a beach covers otherwise usable beach with rock, and the armoring tends to result in the loss of the beach due to erosion. The shoreline of Pacifica has already experienced extensive beach loss due to the effects of armoring.

Surfrider will work to ensure that the illegally dumped rip-rap is removed, and any future construction on the site is limited to grading the path at the top of the berm, and not an incremental armoring project of berm.

Despite the predominance of coastal armoring in Pacifica, managed retreat has been successfully implemented here before. The San Pedro Creek area at Linda Mar State Beach is the site of such a project, which included restoration of beach, wetlands, and the estuary, as well as the relocation of commercial and residential infrastructure to more sustainable locations. Managed retreat is also part of the restoration vision advocated by Surfrider and others for Sharp Park Beach. The lack of critical infrastructure or development near the ocean make this site an ideal location to implement managed retreat.

Brent Plater, executive director of the Wild Equity Institute, said “In either case, we expect the Coastal Commission to ensure that the beach is preserved for future generations to enjoy.”

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