Coastal Commission OKs six-month seasonal closure of Point La Jolla and includes most of Boomer Beach

The California Coastal Commission voted unanimously April 8 to approve the city of San Diego’s request for a permit to close Point La Jolla to the public during sea lion pupping season but expanded the proposed closure area to include most of the adjacent Boomer Beach and the closure period to six months from the proposed 3½.

The city proposed to close Point La Jolla — a rocky area between La Jolla Cove beach and Boomer Beach where sea lions go on land to rest and give birth — from May 25 to Sept. 15 each year and put up signs, a chain across the wooden access stairway and two K-rail barriers on the western end of the closure area.

However, the Coastal Commission imposed a series of conditions on the coastal development permit, which San Diego Parks & Recreation Department Assistant Director Karen Dennison said the city accepted.

Among them are expanding the closure period to May 1 through Oct. 31 and for the seasonal closure permit to be in effect for seven years.

The city had proposed maintaining public access to Boomer Beach — where sea lions also haul out — and the bluffs above it, but commissioners pushed for expanding the closure area.

Commissioner Steve Padilla called for Boomer Beach to be incorporated in the closure, saying the area is “a dangerous landing” for “all but the most intrepid bodysurfers.”

Commissioner Caryl Hart agreed, saying, “It seems clear from what we’ve seen that Boomer Beach is a significant area for sea lions.”

The city will be required to submit a signage plan depicting what will be posted both during and outside the seasonal closure. The signs must include the dates the closure is in effect, the words “sea lion pupping season” so the public can understand the reason for the closure, and information in Spanish.

The annual closure comes after the area was closed for five weeks last summer, Aug. 11 to Sept. 15, on an emergency basis following months of reports of beach-goers bothering, and in some cases harming, sea lions and their pups.

Another condition for the permit is “to assess the effectiveness of the seasonal closure and determine if significant changes have occurred,” commission Coastal Planner Kaitlin Carney said. The city will prepare a monitoring plan including the area’s level of use by sea lions and the effectiveness of the closure in eliminating harassment by humans, which must be submitted by March 1 each year.

The city also must prepare a long-term management plan to address potential harassment when public access is restored outside of pupping season.

If the city meets the conditions, it will be able to propose permit amendments to either increase or reduce public access in the future.

“The proposed closure will provide a [clear], enforceable line between public access restrictions and sea lion protection and is expected to eliminate or significantly reduce sea lion harassment and disturbance during the vulnerable life stage,” Carney said. “The seven-year permit term, combined with the required monitoring, will allow the city and the commission to evaluate the necessity of the seasonal closure over time and determine if adjustments need to be made, such as relaxing access restrictions should sea lions no longer haul out at Point La Jolla, or increasing restrictions if the ocean accessway does not adequately protect the sea lions.”

People and sea lions gather at Point La Jolla

(Elisabeth Frausto)

One of the strengths of the plan, commission Chairwoman Donne Brownsey said, “is that if, let’s say the sea lion population moves on … we would want to know that to balance marine life protection with coastal access.”

Under the monitoring and long-term management plans, the commission is asking the city to consider adopting a local rule about harassment for rangers to enforce and explore how nighttime harassment would be handled.

About the latter, Dennison said the city is considering “a surveillance ordinance that has to do with all equipment that records visual imagery as well as audio. That is being evaluated by the City Council and the mayor’s office, and that will have a profound effect on our ability to place this type of equipment at all our park sites.” ◆