ENCINITAS — A proposed state lifeguard tower and support facility in Cardiff is on the Encinitas Planning Commission’s agenda Thursday night.
The new San Elijo lifeguard tower, which replaces the original tower that was dismantled after storms in 2010 washed away the bluff where it sat, leaving the tower close to the edge. That tower had been in place since 1966.
It is expected to cost $4 million, paid for largely by Proposition 12 funds, which are earmarked for state parks projects.
Some residents had concerns about the aesthetics of the proposed tower, and voiced them last fall at a state meeting when state parks officials unveiled the plans.
The revised plans, which the Planning Commission will consider, include minor changes to the roof and a longer corner windows that planning staff says will reduce the bulk and apparent mass of the tower.
The lifeguard tower also will include a remote-controlled camera that will help fill in some of the visual gaps that lifeguards operating at the tower will have due to it being set back farther than the original tower as a result of the cliff erosion.
The Planning Commission meeting starts at 6 p.m. June 4.
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Council will soon start the bids for the construction of the Moonlight Beach main lifeguard facility and Sheriff’s beach station. The debt and estimated cost is $3,000,000. Expect another bond debt of $2,000,000 or increased taxes to complete the Moonlight Beach project.
Are you kidding? A lifeguard needs communications, fins and a rescue tube. They rebuilt on that spot a few years ago how did they ever get a building site approved on a crumbling cliff? How much did the last one cost? Who made those bad decisions. I say forgo a 4 million dollar building that would certainly go ovre budget. Use funds to put more guards to work and buy another vehicle or two. Put a building in like the proposal and you end up with a bunch of distracted lifeguards sitting in some cozy structure like Moonlight, does nothing for beach safety.
Why does it cost more to replace a life guard tower than it does to build a luxury home in Rancho Santa Fe?
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