WASHINGTON — The California Coastal Commission is asking the Surface Transportation Board to order mediation in the long-running dispute between it, the city of Del Mar, Calif., and the North County Transit District over the transit agency’s plan to build a safety fence along its rail line on the Del Mar Bluffs.
The transit district originally asked the STB in 2020 to issue an order affirming its right to install the fence and do bluff stabilization work along the line used by its commuter trains, Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliners, and BNSF freight trains. But that request has been held in abeyance while the parties attempted to negotiate an agreement; when that failed, the NCTD announced plans to proceed with installation of 1.7 miles of fencing and asked the STB to rule on its original request [see “San Diego transit district votes to proceed …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 24, 2022].
But a January filing by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and others in his office, on behalf of the Coastal Commission, says “the parties have made substantial progress” in resolving the matter, and that mediation “could help the parties to resolve their differences without need for further proceeds before the board, or at the very least, help narrow down the issues” in the NCTD petition.
It also cautions that, without mediation, “the commission anticipates significant discovery issues that will likely require the board’s attention.” An accompanying document says these will include determining the exact boundaries of the transit district’s right-of-way and source of funding for its project, which the document says will be “central to determining the issues … including whether the [Coastal] Commission has federal consistency jurisdiction to review the project for consistency with California’s federally certified coastal management plan.”
The transit district, in a filing in response to the coastal commission request, says that the discussions between the three parties “were constructive and held some promise,” but that “it is clear after this lengthy negotiation period that an agreement cannot be reached.” It says mediation would be “another veiled attempt to delay a vital safety fencing project.”
Del Mar residents and the Coastal Commission have opposed the fencing because they say it will restrict coastal access; residents along the bluffs also say it will spoil their coastal views. The transit district wants to restrict trespasser access that has led to a number of pedestrian deaths.
Maybe NCTD can mollify the Coastal Commission by offering, as part of the installation of the fence, to remove all non-native, invasive plants along the ROW?
Related, the CC once required the City of Newport Beach to remove their designated street tree of Mexican Fan Palms along Coast Highway…Mexican Fan Palms are a non-native invasive species says CC. Newport Beach says we can’t afford to remove 50 trees and replace with the native California Fan Palm (per CC direction) though the two are almost indistinguisable….the two must have declared a truce, the trees are still there.
To all of the above, unless you live in California none of you have knowledge of the Coastal Commissions powers and the law that created it. Though in this case I’m pretty damn sure the railroad was there long before people lived along the coast and used the right-of-way to access the beaches. If, however, people were using said land to access the beaches before the railroad was built, then the law specifically states that beach access takes precedence over private property, no ifs ands or buts about it and said access can’t be restricted(as far as I know it doesn’t say anything about providing alternate access methods such as a bridge or underpass though).
STB = Federal
Amtrak = Federal/State
Cali Coastal Commission = State
Transit Service = Regional
DelMar = Municipal
Gerald says: “If, however, people were using said land to access the beaches before the railroad was built, then the law specifically states that beach access takes precedence over private property”
People have been using the beaches around here since their ancestors walked over the Bering Land Bridge. While I know California likes to think they can usurp Federal law at their leisure, railroads have an exceptional level of legal authority in the US, one that was given so they could be a common carrier.
While I do hope they can work something out (as the STB prefers), what this is really about is money.
Transit agency insurance liability going up, DelMar can’t afford bridges, the CCC doesn’t fund they simply are beach cops made up of lawyers. I think everyone’s positions are well staked out, time for everyone to compromise a little.
Yep, have to agree with all the comments. Time for transit agency go all in on fence and be done with it. Maybe throw in a good marketing blitz on how they actually value pf protecting life over say criminal activity and god forbid, someone losing their view.
It seems like the arbitrator should just tell the the Del Mar taxpayers to pay to put up a bridge if they want to cross the tracks where there is no public right of way. To paraphrase an old saying, “you can’t have your cake without paying for it.”
Just put the fence up and let Del Mar go to the “bureaucracy” since they look they are anyways. I see the STB not getting involved and just saying it’s the ROW and it’s a local matter.
“the commission anticipates significant discovery issues that will likely require the board’s attention.” An accompanying document says these will include determining the exact boundaries of the transit district’s right-of-way”
What a joke. They are saying that “if you STB don’t rule on this, we will have to engage the bureaucracy to resolve it”. Talk about a shallow threat.
It is really easy. DelMar wants access to the beaches, then they will have to pay for it to go over or under the private property in between. When those people bought or built homes on the bluff, they knew there was a railroad ROW below them.
With stupid threats like that I would simply have the fence put in. Why would property lines be in question? They made SP move the ROW back in the 1930’s. Last I read, the US has had surveyors since the 1700’s and I am sure it was well surveyed at the time.