Capo Beach – “On the Eve of Destruction”

Dog walkers and other locals who frequent beleaguered Capistrano Beach Park watched Thursday as heavy equipment rolled in to begin work on Phase 1 demolition of part of this beloved site. OC Parks had no choice. Recent storms ripped away a large section of boardwalk and other infrastructure. Engineers confirmed that some of the area beneath the basketball court and restrooms had been undermined.

With the Coastal Commission adamant about restrictions on anything other than emergency armoring, there was simply no way to protect the expensive public investment. The court kept buckling; sidewalks kept sliding and breaking apart; underpinnings showed signs of relentless surf damage; and the risk of sewage spills from what would become a stranded restroom were too real to dismiss.

The County has worked hard in recent years to upgrade the park. At the urging of local advocacy group, Capo Cares, they resurfaced the courts, upgraded landscaping, renovated bathrooms and painted trash receptacles. Residents watched in disbelief as each new storm wrecked what had been fixed – overturning concrete benches, filling newly landscaped planters with debris and flinging cobble and sand across the parking lots, sometimes leaving deposits of 10 inches or more for Public Works crews to clean up.

The collapse of the boardwalk forced public agencies to take a serious look at the park. The CCC granted an emergency permit for 1,000 tons of boulders to be placed along the storm-sliced court. A second permit is allowing two new operations - demolition of the basketball court and restrooms, and temporary protection of the south end of the parking lot via the placement of huge sand cubes along the shoreline from Beach Road to the court.

Crews were on hand today proceeding with both operations. Behind protective fencing, men were filling huge bags with sand from a massive pile that occupies the south parking lot, while a back hoe and tractor were breaking up parts of the popular court, shaking chunks loose from contorted rebar. “This week’s operation is really more exploratory than anything,” said a County official. “We’re removing parts of the infrastructure to see what shape the ground is in underneath. Once we understand what lies beneath, we’ll be able to proceed with full scale demo next week.”

County officials confirmed that in the short term they will remove at least half of the basketball court, the entire restroom structure and the remaining parts of the boardwalk. Parts of the concrete surrounding the rest rooms will also remain in place for the time being. The south end of the park will possibly remain closed to cars, and perhaps pedestrians, too, until the County determines safe traffic flow.

And in the long term? Consultants have been hired and are working with engineers to draft a plan to restore the beach and park and perhaps add amenities from the public’s wish list – volley ball nets, a playground area, a new boardwalk? Maybe even new, but smaller restrooms located safely back from the shore?

“It’s a shame we had to lose so much. “Dana Point resident Kathy Bartha said today as she watched an impressive morning swell. “The CCC should have allowed the County to address this years ago when we started losing the volleyball courts.” She mentioned a man who played basketball here every week for the past 10 years. “He’s devastated, and so am I. I hope we get our beach back, and restrooms too. I have grandkids who love to come here.”

OC Parks has confirmed that public meetings will be held to explore options and garner public input. For now, residents can look forward to work crews finishing by late April, at which time most of the park will be reopened. As one County official put it, after demolition “you’ll have a beach and a parking lot. It will be a bit of a patchwork at first. Not very pretty, but we’ll work hard on improving it from there.”