Clean Up Begins at Beleagured Capo Beach Park

Capo Beach locals are getting used to it. Copious amounts of sand, cobble and sometimes boulders and concrete benches litter the parking lot at County-owned Capistrano Beach Park so often that it’s becoming more norm than exception. In the past few years they’ve seen infrastructure collapse, palm trees destroyed and gaping holes left in the parking lot as nature has her way with this popular little beach. Eroding shorelines meant good bye to volley ball courts on the sand. Fire pits (now down to two) have been dragged from the surf and relocated near a walking path that is often in jeopardy itself.

The basketball court and rest rooms were closed in December when a large section of wooden boardwalk and fence suddenly tore away. The court now shows discernible signs of underminement near the edge, as waves continue to batter infrastructure protected by 1,000 tons of “rip rap” boulders the County placed along the steep drop as a temporary emergency measure.

Just when locals thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. Last week’s king tides and heavy surf further undermined large sections of concrete sidewalk, lifting edges and creating a decided seaward slant in the walkway. The few remaining palm trees lean forward with roots almost completely exposed in some cases, silent witnesses to the heavy machinery shoring up the pathway to Doheny and creating parking lot sand dunes as deep deposits of sand and cobble are scraped from battered asphalt .

Capo Beach is quite simply a mess. OC Parks is cleaning things up this week. They’ve promised to make every attempt to push palms upright and bury exposed roots in an attempt to save them - again.

Both Parks management and residents are eagerly awaiting the result of talks with the California Coastal Commission to determine both short and long term mitigation plans. Locals simply want what’s left of their beach back, and soon.

Parks Division Manager, Bill Reiter, reassured local advocacy group, Capo Cares, “You won’t lose your beach. It may look different when all is said and done, but it will still be there and we will still be there to keep it clean and safe.”