A plan to add sidewalks hit a roadblock Monday in a beachfront Carlsbad neighborhood popular with surfers, cyclists and joggers.
Many of the residents oppose the sidewalks, which would eliminate dozens of parking spaces along Carlsbad Boulevard, another name for the historic coastal route Highway 101.
The city’s Traffic Safety and Mobility Commission voted unanimously Monday to support the residents and recommended the Carlsbad City Council place the sidewalks on hold. The City Council is expected to review the Terramar neighborhood improvement plan sometime in the next few weeks.
“We should try to maintain the status quo as long as possible,” said commission Chair Josh Coelho.
The neighborhood is just south of the boulevard’s intersection with Cannon Road. Last year, the City Council stopped a part of the plan to install a roundabout there as part of the improvements. That decision also came in response to widespread opposition from residents.
An earlier version of the neighborhood improvement plan presented to the City Council in 2018 included a proposal for two roundabouts — the one at Cannon and another one a block south at Cerezo Drive — but only the Cannon roundabout was approved.
Coelho suggested Monday that the city make no decision on the sidewalks until plans shape up for the site of the former Encina power plant just north of Cannon.
Some of the power plant property is being transferred to the city for a new fire station and other uses. Also, he said, the property owner NRG could build a hotel or some other development on its share of the land that could include parking.
The neighborhood is one of the few in San Diego County where single-family homes have driveways with direct access to the coastal highway. Without sidewalks, people park and walk on the highway’s dirt shoulder. The Terramar beach break is popular with families, long-boarders and older surfers.
“I agree with everybody, don’t change it,” said Susan Hollander, who grew up in the area and owns a house on Carlsbad Boulevard. “There’s nothing broke, so don’t fix it.”
One reason for the neighborhood’s parking problems is a public staircase down to the beach near the end of Cerezo Drive, Hollander said.
The California Coastal Commission required a small homeowners association to install the concrete stairway about 2005 as condition of its approval of the residential construction.
“Prior to that, there was no access to the beach,” she said, and the neighborhood didn’t get near as many visitors.
The stairs now are in poor shape and undermined at the bottom by beach erosion, but still in use, and restoration work is planned.
Not everyone opposes the sidewalks, which have been part of the plan since before it went to the City Council in 2018.
“I think sidewalks are a good idea,” said Elaine Frassanito, in a March 26 letter to the commission.
“There are hundreds of walkers along this route daily,” she said. “I know because I can barely get out of my street, Tierra del Oro (west of Carlsbad Boulevard), waiting for all the walkers.”
The north-south coastal route through Terramar sees the most cyclists of any road through Carlsbad, with an average of 1,853 riders a day on weekends. It also sees an average of 13,000 vehicles a day, a city report states, while Cannon Road gets about 7,400 vehicles daily at the intersection.
With or without sidewalks, the city plans to resurface and restripe about one mile of Carlsbad Boulevard and a quarter-mile of Cannon Road at a cost of about $1.5 million. A construction contract could be awarded in 2027, city officials said.
The total cost would increase to between $3 million and $4 million if sidewalks are added, according to city officials. With that option, a construction contract would not be awarded until mid-2028 and the project would take two to three years to complete.