Windansea Parking Lot – Before and After Improvements

The Breeze

Friends of Windansea have labored with love since 1997 to preserve,  protect and enhance Windansea Beach.

 If the Shack at Windansea Beach is an iconic symbol of California  surf culture in San Diego then the Windansea Parking Lot (the lot) is the  plaza where that culture happened. Ever since it was only a patch of  dirt between gullies the lot has always been a mystical space and more than just a place to hang out and check the surf. The scene of fun,  fights, romance, and rough play, the lot takes all comers but not all  come to stay.

Since the lot was just a dirt bluff it has had several physical  incarnations. First white wood posts were buried at the blufftop as a warning to motorists, then the lot was paved and Caltrans-style metal  barriers were added to connect the posts and keep cars from drifting over the edge and onto the rocks below.

All the while the cars held primacy, allowing drivers and passengers to see both the surf and the beach from their car seats while pedestrians walked behind them, between their bumpers and the street.

Fortunately, the bluff has a slight curvature while the street is straight, so there is some space in the middle between the cars and the traveled way.

Unfortunately,drinking was permitted at the beach in those days, an elixir for many a close calls by drunk drivers backing out without looking and one day a German tourist was backed over and crippled for life.

The other problem was erosion.

The lot tipped slightly towards the ocean, enough that water shedding off the asphalt concentrated and eroded the bluff face.

In 2004, working pro bono, Friend and landscape architect Jim Neri designed a plan and built a study model for the lot that proved there was just enough room to move the cars back from the bluff without losing any parking and still be able fit  a pedestrian path in front of the cars, tipping the drainage ever so slightly  away from the bluff and towards the street.

He was even able to  preserve the unique curvature of the lot. After much deliberation  about tradition, safety and erosion, Friends of Windansea agreed with  the plan and took all of this to the people of La Jolla for more  discussion and in 2005 the lot redesign was approved by all community  groups.

In the meantime, Council Representative Donna Frye (D) had spearheaded a Low Flow Diversion system, sending minor stormwater first flushes to the City sewage treatment plant instead of to the  ocean.

This was a huge plus for the project since low flows from the  new landward slope of the parking lot would be treated instead of running directly out to the surf.

To pay for the engineering and  construction of the lot redesign, Friends approached then Council  Representative (now Congressman), Scott Peters (D) for advice.

Scott  immediately recognized it as an improvement benefiting both the  community and the environment and secured coastal infrastructure  funding to pay for most it along with a larger donation from the Coggan Family and matching funds for a true public-private partnership.

Construction documents  were submitted in 2007 and approved by the City of San Diego six months later, then issued for bid and awarded.

In September of 2008 the lot construction broke ground, but not  without controversy. The young surfers of the day were rallied to  oppose what they saw as a change to what had “always been there.”

To  their credit, they disbanded when shown the thick binder of the project evolution but a few returned after construction was completed  in November to tag the new rocks and asphalt in a fit of teen angst.

After the graffiti was removed a couple of times the protest was over  and people got used to seeing walkers in front of their cars and Friends of Windansea received kudos from the La Jolla Light newspaper for  polishing this facet of the jewel that is our community.

The lot was still the lot, just a little safer and more environmentally friendly.