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Pismo declares emergency for Price bluffs

By April Charlton/Senior Staff Writer

The Pismo Beach City Council has taken emergency action to keep a portion of Price Street that runs along the bluffs near Shell Beach from collapsing into the ocean.

With a 5-0 vote this week, the council agreed to allocate $339,000 for a contract with JC Baldwin Construction Co. to repair a section of the severely eroding bluffs located just south of the clay tennis courts near Pelican Point Restaurant & Bar.

“(The area) has been an erosion problem for the city for quite awhile,” said Pismo Beach City Engineer Dwayne Chisam.

At the site, there is only six feet between the edge of the sidewalk closest to the ocean and the bluff’s edge and face, both of which continue to erode, especially during large storms, which are predicted this winter.

A concrete wall constructed to help keep bluff erosion to a minimum at the site also has started to crumble, and the rebar is now exposed. Staff believes the wall is decades old, Chisam said.

Years of erosion in the area also have created an unsafe dip in the sidewalk, and a big hole in the bluffside below the sidewalk continues to grow in size, further compromising the stability of the bluff and operation of Price Street in that area.

“It’s scary,” said Pismo Beach Mayor Mary Ann Reiss about the section of bluffs that could collapse into the surf below at anytime without immediate repair.

Work on the emergency bluff stabilization project will begin Dec. 1, and is expected to be completed by the end of the year to beat the upcoming rainy season.

The project will entail construction of sea wall that will be designed to look the natural soil of the bluffs and repair of the bowing sidewalk along Price Street, Chisam said.

Continued erosion of the bluffs along Price Street — a key frontage road between Shell Beach, the so-called hotel row on North Price and downtown Pismo that also adjoins Highway 101 — would likely cause huge traffic nightmares in the area.

If sections of Price Street near Shell Beach were to fall into the ocean, all north-to-south vehicle traffic in Pismo would be diverted to Highway 101, according to city staff.

“This will be a permanent fix for that upper portion of the slide area,” Chisam said. “Other areas may fade away, but (this project) will keep that roadway up there for quite awhile.”

The project will be funded with $206,000 the city has received from the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments, with the balance to come from 2007 bond refunding proceeds.

Pismo Beach is also working with the Los Angeles District Army Corps of Engineers to develop a study that aims to identify shoreline erosion sites and offer solutions. The study is expected to be completed in September 2010.