Environmentalists vs. The Goetz Seawall

Tonight at 6 PM the City of Carlsbadistan Planning Commission is supposed to vote on whether to “grant permits to a controversial seawall project that coastal environmentalists argue may permanently alter the beach in front of the Terramar community,” according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.

Some will remember this already built wall (pictured above) as the same one that riled up the Surfrider Foundation last June when homeowner Dean A. Goetz got some grief from local surfers. At the timeattorney Todd Cardiff said, “We are going to do everything we can do to make them take that sea wall out. This is one of the most cynical attempts to avoid the public process that I’ve seen in a long time.”

Now Cardiff is accusing the City of Carlsbad of “deliberately withholding some project-related paperwork that should be released to the public,” according to the story.

Jane Mobaldi, Carlsbad assistant city attorney, said that Carlsbad has released “95 percent” of its documents related to the seawall issue. Cardiff has been given the environmental reports, the project application and other city documents, she said. Only about six pieces of paper out of hundreds have been withheld, she said. . . Those include a few e-mails and some notes from conversations between city employees and property owner attorneys, and she considers them privileged legal information, she added.

We have to say in the scheme of sea walls in general, this one could be much, much worse. Tonight we may know the outcome. . . The meeting begins at 6 tonight in the Council Chambers of City Hall 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive and it is open to the public.

[Link: North County Times]