As erosion threatens homes on La Jolla’s Calumet Avenue, plans are in progress with seawalls as concerns prompt larger conversations.

A site development application for the construction of a coastal bluff sea wall, located at 5360 Calumet Ave, received La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee approval July 15, and two other, similar projects on the same street await emergency city of San Diego approval.

At 5360 Calumet, the application, filed nearly a year ago on Aug 21, proposes a shotcrete wall with tiebacks running under the residence as a retention device, applicant representative Bob Trettin said at the DPR meeting.

The seawall will then be sculpted and color-treated to look as natural as possible, Trettin said, along with other sections of the bluff.

“There are indications of the bluff failing at this time,” project geotechnical engineer John Franklin said. “There’s distress to the patio leading up to the primary residence. [The bluff] is probably going to fail further within the next couple storm cycles.”

And that failure would affect the homes to the north and south of the property, Franklin emphasized.

“You can’t detrimentally impact your neighbors,” he said.

More La Jolla homes in danger

5316 Calumet Ave, La Jolla
Zillow

“There are a number of homes on Calumet that are threatened right now,” Trettin said.

Trettin also represents the homeowners at 5322 and 5316 Calumet Ave, both of which are under consideration for emergency city permits for seawalls. 

The emergency application for 5322 Calumet, including a shotcrete wall across the entire property to address continuing, observed bluff erosion, has been approved, city spokesperson Richard Berg confirmed July 16.

Approval for a seawall at 5316 Calumet is still pending, Berg said, but Trettin indicated at DPR that approval is imminent.

Other Calumet homes are in need of support as well, Trettin said.

Nearby Bandera Street resident Mary Lynn Hyde said she’s concerned about all the properties on Calumet along the bluff: “I’ve lived there for 30 years, and I’ve watched that cliff deteriorate.” 

Hyde and a few DPR trustees spoke about subterranean water flowing under the homes that may cause further loss.

Hyde called for the neighbors and city to cooperate on mitigation strategies to stabilize the entire area and mitigate the issue.

DPR trustee Greg Jackson referenced a June discussion of the La Jolla Community Planning Association, during which Tom Cook of Surfrider Foundation, specifically referring to Calumet erosion, said Surfrider is opposed to individual homes building seawalls.

Surfrider instead advocates for ceasing construction in the area and pushing for relocation and pushing setbacks farther inland.

“Part of [Surfrider’s] objection was that we were doing emergency after emergency [permit], rather than as a matter of policy,” Jackson said. “I just wanted to get that into the discussion.”

DPR Chair Brian Will agreed the matter should be discussed further at LJCPA.

The California Coastal Act’s section 30235 states “seawalls, cliff retaining walls, and other such construction that alters natural shoreline processes shall be permitted when required … to protect existing structures.”

That language, Trettin said, means “if your individual house is threatened, you’ve got the right to protect it. You’ve got the right to build a seawall.”

Trettin agreed, however, that long-term plans should have been created decades ago to address the problem.

“There aren’t any other options,” he said. “If you’re a homeowner sitting on a property like that and you want to protect your house, because there’s no place else to rebuild it on those smaller lots, you’re going to build a wall, and if you don’t … and neighbors do, then your failures impact their property.”

DPR then unanimously voted to make the preliminary request for 5360 Calumet final, moving a second time to approve the project.

The motion passed with Jackson voting against without comment and Will abstaining, as is customary for the chair. 

The California Coastal Commission will now consider the coastal development permit for the project, Trettin said.

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