The joint city of San Diego and La Jolla Coastal Conservancy project is underway, with a 2030 estimated opening for the stairs, closed since January 2024.
South Casa Beach will get a new staircase – and finally reopen – with the leadership of the La Jolla Coastal Conservancy, after the California Coastal Commission approved the preliminary plans.
Approved on the consent agenda at its June 10 meeting, the item is a special condition of the city of San Diego’s application to revise existing and implement new beach parking restrictions at various coastal public parking lots in La Jolla and other coastal communities.
Parking lot gates at La Jolla Shores/Kellogg Park and Torrey Pines Gliderport will be closed from 10 pm to 4 am; Windansea Beach parking (ungated) will be closed from midnight to 4 am.
The South Casa Beach staircase – and the beach itself – have been closed since January 2024, when several of the steps at the bottom crumbled after the erosion of harsh winter storms; efforts to repair the staircase have lacked the considerable funding required, though the project remains at the top of priority lists.
The La Jolla Coastal Conservancy is a recently-formed nonprofit that works in a public-private partnership with the city of San Diego to carry out privately-funded improvement and maintenance projects along the La Jolla shoreline from Coast Walk Trail south to Whale View Point.
The city, according to the staff report submitted to the Coastal Commission, can now implement its plan to “partner with the La Jolla Coastal Conservancy to advance the repair and reopening of the South Casa Beach stairway,” the report states.
The city must submit a detailed implementation plan, provide annual progress reports and ensure the stairway is reopened within five years of Commission approval.
The preliminary plan for repairs of the stairway includes replacement of the damaged lower concrete treads, installation of a new caisson-supported landing designed to withstand gravity and lateral coastal forces and reorientation of the lower stair run parallel to the shoreline to reduce exposure to direct wave impact.
The staircase repair itself will still require a separate coastal development permit.
Project design and permitting are scheduled to take place from 2026 through 2029, followed by approximately one year of construction beginning in 2029.
The staircase is estimated to reopen late 2030.
La Jolla Coastal Conservancy will serve as the lead applicant and take responsibility for all project costs, engineering design, permit submittals and construction contracting; the city will facilitate the project’s development and implementation.
