City of Capitola addresses erosion issues for Grand Avenue coastal path
CAPITOLA, Calif. (KION-TV) -- The Capitola City Council is exploring ways to maintain a pathway on the verge of collapse along Grand Avenue.
On Thursday night, City Council received a report and discussed challenges with this coastal path including limited space, drainage issues, and the overall cost of any work. Still, many people who live nearby call the trail a valuable community asset.
“I'm not sure there's much we can effectively do that we can afford, because it's in the millions of dollars," Capitola City Council Member Melinda Orbach said.
While Grand Avenue east of Central Avenue has been closed to drivers since the 1980s due to coastal bluff erosion, the pedestrian walkway remained open.
Yet, the stretch between Saxon and Oakland Avenue has been damaged with the remainder past Oakland Avenue closed.
The City of Capitola is now trying to navigate the next steps as it continues to battle mother nature. For many people who use the path or live nearby, they say access to it is vital for the community.
“We really value everything we have here. It's so beautiful, and there's no place like it," Capitola resident Al Pinard said.
“We can we can make this last a long time and have this be an asset for the community for years, if not decades to come, if we make the right investments and we're really diligent about taking care of it," said one person during public comment.
City officials were presented with four options ranging from permanent closure to bluff stabilization. City council later decided to rule out the bluff stabilization option due to the multi-million dollar cost. Despite that, maintaining access to this scenic overlook was also a main focal point.
“I believe we should try to do everything we can to help the residents up there and for the beach access, even though it's only visual and because of the verticality of the cliff, but need to do everything we can to keep it open,” Capitola Mayor Joe Clarke said.
While the City of Capitola took no official action at the Thursday night meeting, they will be getting together a community volunteer committee to further explore this matter. They plan on discussion their findings at a future meeting.
