POINT 5 ......  Allowing a City to strip a public tideland of access protection in its LCP removes CCC jurisdiction with no way to get it back. This sets a new, lowered standard for beach closure for all of California. 
 

a)  San Diego has invented a whole new way to defeat the Coastal Act.   A Local Coastal Plan (LCP) enables a community to have permit jurisdiction in the Coastal Overlay Zone.  The Commission is so overworked it can only act on items brought to it and only analyze impact within the LCP itself.    When a closure was first proposed as part of a dubious determination of ESHA status, local staff rebuffed that dodge, but helpfully suggested a closure could be done under 30230, and wrote the needed text.  

b) By cutting out public access protection for one beach at a time, the LCP becomes can be a free pass for denial of access instead of an impediment.   As holder of that LCP, only the municipality could change it back.    Even after a temporary permit expires, San Diego could not be forced to re-instate access.  

c) Without LCP access protection, San Diego can modify the closure permit to year round with no intervention from the Commission. 

d) Dec 27th 2012, the Mayor extended the rope barrier past the limit set in the Coastal Permit against the advice of the City Attorney.  Local staff quickly arranged an after-the-fact amendment.   A judge later ruled in a suit that the Mayor had broken the law (Coastal Act and LCP) but that illegality by then could be overlooked.

e) March 18th of 2013 the Mayor of San Diego issued his own emergency permit to close the beach at night until May 15th, without notifying the Coastal Commission.  That blatant violation was quietly dealt with by the issuing of a real emergency permit after the fact as a de minimus action April 10 in Santa Barbara.   

f)  30230 protects “areas and species of special biological or economic significance” and Children’s Pool must qualify under economic significance.   Staff has noted previously (A-6-LJS-009) 3/12/2010, “ Ever since the seals began hauling out on the beach at this location, they have become a major tourist attraction drawing huge numbers of people to this coastal area from around the world.”   Its biological significance is notable, but not positive, as it concentrates predators adjacent to the San Diego’s oldest underwater reserve to the detriment of all other (unprotected) species.

g) Any coastal town must maximize return on investment in its corporate tideland holdings.   Beaches bring tourists, and money.  Locals only cause maintenance costs.  Children’s Pool could be an ideal business model; a beach that attracts tourists to only look at on their way to other attractions.