Civil war breaks out over 11 acres of stunning coastline at California beauty spot

A decade-long battle over a coveted stretch of California coastline could come to a head Thursday, when regulators consider whether to clear the way for 120 rental townhomes near Ponto Beach in Carlsbad.

The California Coastal Commission is set to consider changes that could allow developer H.G. Fenton to move forward with a multi-building housing project on the 11-acre parcel — despite a grassroots campaign calling for the land to become a public park instead.

The commission will consider the City of Carlsbad’s proposed amendments to the Poinsettia Shores Master Plan and Local Coastal Program at its Oct. 8 meeting.

If approved, the changes would still need to go before the Carlsbad City Council, which is expected to take up the matter early next year. The amendments would replace the property’s current “unplanned” designation with residential and commercial land uses.

Known as Planning Area F, the vacant parcel sits between Coast Highway and Interstate 5, just south of South Ponto Beach and next to the South Carlsbad State Beach campground.

Fenton bought the land in 2022 and proposed PI Townhomes, a 120-unit rental complex with more than 340 parking spaces. The project cannot move forward until the Coastal Commission approves the amendments.

The city says the land has already been zoned for residential and commercial use since 2016 by both Carlsbad and the Coastal Commission, and that the proposed changes would bring the master plan in line with that earlier approval.

The city also said there is no open-space designation for the property and that neither the commission, city nor developer is considering one, ABC10 News reported.

But opponents say the 11 acres represent a rare opportunity to add public parkland along a heavily developed stretch of coast.

The grassroots group People for Ponto argues that North Carlsbad has 10 coastal parks totaling about 37 acres west of I-5, while South Carlsbad has none.

“Planning Area F at Ponto is the last vacant, unplanned coastal land in this area. This is a “now or never” opportunity to provide a meaningful public coastal park,” the group’s website reads. 

The group says it has collected more than 20,000 petition signatures and is pushing for at least 7 acres of the property to become a community park.

People for Ponto’s Michael Sebahar has spent years fighting to keep the land from becoming another residential development.

“I’ve never lost the vision of what it could be just this beautiful open space where we can host concerts where people can watch sunsets where we can have marathons start and finish, where people can come and just hang out with their kids,” Sebahar told ABC 10 News. 

The fight dates back to at least 2010, when the Coastal Commission rejected Carlsbad’s Ponto Beachfront Village Vision Plan after finding that the city had not adequately considered public park and visitor-serving uses at Planning Area F.

Similar concerns resurfaced in 2016 and 2017, according to the Coast News.

People for Ponto argues that Fenton’s current proposal closely resembles the development plan the commission rejected years ago.

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