Coastal Commission approves 2 seawalls in SLO County — with some public benefits
The California Coastal Commission approved permits for two seawalls in San Luis Obispo County in October, but both come with some key conditions that will improve public access to the beach as part of the agreements.
The seawalls are designed to protect two bluff-top homes — one in Pismo Beach and the other in Cayucos — from eroding ocean waves.
The commission approved the seawalls as part of their consent agenda at a meeting on Oct. 10, according to meeting records.
Pismo Beach home to get seawall improvements
First, the commission certified improvements to an existing seawall protecting a home at 185 Naomi Ave. in Pismo Beach.
In 1992, four concrete walls were built into the coastal bluff to prevent erosion. Then, the 2022 and 2023 storms weakened the walls, and the commission approved an emergency coastal development permit to allow applicants Tammy and Richard Loughead Jr. to replace and fortify the seawall, the staff report said.
The Lougheads closed the eroded base of the walls with concrete and filled gaps in the sea caves with grout, the report said.
To mitigate impacts caused by the project, the Lougheads must fund coastal access improvements near their property for the next 20 years. One such project includes repairs to the Vista Del Mar stairway, the staff report said.
At the October meeting, the commission retroactively approved the permit for the project, the staff report said.
New seawall OK’d at Cayucos home
Next, the commission approved a coastal development permit for the construction of a new seawall at the base of a single-family home in Cayucos.
Marshall Lewis applied to build a seawall measuring 145 feet long and 30 to 45 feet tall at the bottom of a bluff below the home at 709 Lucerne St.
“(The) seawall would be covered with sculpted and colored concrete designed to match as closely as possible the coloring and characteristics of the natural coastal bluff in this location,” the staff report said.
Lewis’ project also comes with conditions.
For example, he must allow for a public access easement on the beach on his property and collaborate with San Luis Obispo County Parks “to improve and restore the public coastal beach access way at Mannix Avenue in Cayucos that was damaged and closed as a result of heavy storms in 2023,” the staff report said.
The Coastal Commission won’t offer permits for the construction of seawalls to just anybody — even if their property is endangered by erosion.
But because both homes were built before the implementation of the Coastal Act, the owners are allowed to pursue a seawall to protect their properties when other, newer properties would be disqualified from such a project, the staff report said.
