Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Cliff erosion, yellow tagged apartments


San Francisco Chronicle/Peter Fimrite, 1/25/16. "More evacuations in Pacifica as cliffs give way to the sea"

Image result for Pacifica, CA apartment building yellow tag picture
Failing cliffs, yellow-tagged
apartments, 1/25/16
"Massive chunks of dirt seen crashing into the roiling surf this past weekend persuaded Pacifica officials Monday to evacuate cliffside apartments that everyone agrees are inching closer to a catastrophic collapse into the sea.  Dozens of residents living in 20 apartments at 310 Esplanade Ave. were ordered out by city officials, who declared the dwellings unsafe. The city will allow the residents to remove their belongings, but they will not be allowed into the apartments for anything other than that, said Mike Cully, Pacifica’s chief building official. 

"Recent bluff failures have resulted in unsafe conditions for living space at 310 Esplanade Ave.,” Cully said. “Cavities in the bluff are forming to the south, west and north of the building, and these critically over-steepened slopes are anticipated to fall back ... in the next several days.”   Read article. 

Related, national news, Pacifica, CA.  CNN/Tony Marco, 1/26/16, "Homes, apartments teetering on cliff's edge in California."  ....  "El Niño is hitting the city's coastline very hard and creating almost daily reports of impacts to both public and private property," Pacifica City Manager Lorie Tinfow said. "We need state and federal assistance to respond to the growing list of failing public infrastructure including the Beach Blvd. sea wall failure." ....  Police Chief Dan Steidle said the city had arranged with the American Red Cross and the Pacifica Resource Center to offer assistance to residents.   ....  Since December, city officials say storms have damaged the pier, the Milagra Watershed Outfall and caused a sea wall to fail.   

Related, State and local news.  Los Angeles Times/Veronica Rocha, Contact Reporter, 1/26/16, "El Niño storms erode Pacifica bluff as homes teeter on the edge."City Manager Lorie Tinfow declared a local emergency after the storms not only wreaked havoc on the cliffside, but also caused damage to Pacifica Pier and the Milagra Watershed. Rains also triggered the failure of a seawall along Beach Boulevard and Santa Maria Avenue in the coastal Bay Area city, about 15 miles south of San Francisco.“El Niño is hitting the city’s coastline very hard and creating almost daily reports of impacts to both public and private property,” Lorie Tinfow said in a statement." Local news.  NBC/Bay Area/El Niño/Staff, 1/26/16, "Pacifica City Council Approved Emergency declaration after El Niño storms slam coastline."  ... Eroding cliffs along Esplanade Avenue have already led the city to declare apartment buildings at 320 and 330 Esplanade Ave. uninhabitable, and neighboring 310 Esplanade Ave. joined them today, city officials said in a statement. .... The building was "yellow-tagged," meaning residents can go inside to get belongings out but can no longer stay there. The neighboring buildings at 320 and 330 Esplanade will need to be demolished, city officials said."  City tracked Esplanade Avenue cliff erosion photographs of Esplanade Avenue by Chris Dant 4/3/12 - 9/24/10, see Adequate Bird.  

Note: photograph:  Cliff erosion, Yellow tagged apartments, 310 Esplanade Avenue from CBS Local, 1/25/16.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's the City's strategy for this disaster and the serious damage on Beach Blvd? Planned retreat? That's becoming popular in other countries. Or will it be more Rip Rap? Who pays? Pacifica is broke.

Anonymous said...

The Esplanade cliffs are a done deal. Pull the buildings down before they become a huge hazardous waste liability. Cut your losses.
Beach Blvd should be saved. It is a huge tourist draw and a wonderful amenity for our citizens. Doesn't the city want to build a $30,000,000 library there? Haven't we already spent millions in feasibility studies and pier repairs?
Refreshing the rock revetment is effective and relatively inexpensive compared to any other alternative. Stop wringing your hands and get going Pacifica. Do something sensible for a change.

Anonymous said...

Without state, federal big bucks to bail out Pacifica, bankruptcy when ERAF money is gone!El Nino is not over!Economic development?

Anonymous said...

Feel bad for you residents of Beach Blvd. Mother Nature isn't impressed with those library plans or anything else this City can throw at her. Huge tourist draw? Hardly. Pier is way beyond it's life span. Unless the Feds want to pay for it all, it's a pretty grim scenario. And what developer would touch such an obviously unstable area. Pacifica is screwed again!

Anonymous said...

I am beginning to believe that nobody will invest in Palmetto, because they can't get their projects insured because of the possibility of natural erosion.

Wny are cliffs along Eslpanade/Palmetto more susceptible than say Rockaway or Point Pedro?

Anonymous said...

934 Geology rocks, baby!

Anonymous said...

9:34 The cliffs are sand. Rockaway is a beach with a seawall built in the ocean. Pedro Point is rock.

Anonymous said...

The good thing about living on Esplanade nowadays is that you stand a pretty good chance of waking up the next day in a better neighborhood.