The California Coastal Commission has said it would likely reject Orange County’s proposal to add a gate at the Table Rock Beach Access, stalling an effort to improve public safety after a string of swimmer deaths on the beach.
Supervisor Lisa Bartlett asked OC Parks to look into the idea after the bodies of two swimmers were found at Table Rock in separate incidents last August. After digging into planning documents dating back to the 1980s, coastal commission staffers wrote they would likely recommend rejecting a coastal development permit for the gate.
“[A] new application… to install gates at this location would likely not be supported by staff as it would have a direct impact on public access already limited in this area and would not be consistent with the access policies of the Coastal Act,” wrote Amber Dobson, a district manager for the Coastal Commission.
In light of the coastal staff’s letter, Bartlett doesn’t plan to push OC Parks to move forward on pursuing the necessary permits to install a gate at the Table Rock Beach Access.
“I think we’ve investigated all options available to us at this point,” said Pauline Colvin, a spokesperson for Bartlett’s office.
Colvin also noted that it’s unclear that a gate would have prevented the swimmer deaths at Table Rock Beach.
“Public safety has been a top priority of the Supervisor and she is supportive of the safety measures in place at all Orange County beaches,” Colvin said.
In 1986, the Orange County Planning Commission considered a resolution requiring county staff to install a gate at the Table Rock Beach access and keep it locked daily from sunset until 8 a.m. as a condition for building the stairway. At that time, county officials viewed the public beach access stairway as a cure to neighbor complaints that people trespass on private property, often through hazardous conditions, to reach the sand.
But a permit application that came ultimately came before the Coastal Commission for approval didn’t include a gate across the Table Rock accessway, according to the Commission’s July 29 letter.
“The accessway was developed over an existing unimproved social trail, indicating that the public has used the path unimpeded for several decades,” Dobson wrote.
The gate was never constructed. It only became an issue when South Laguna residents started digging into the stairway’s history while nudging county officials to do something to prevent the deaths of additional swimmers, particularly in the evenings.
In July 2019, a 27-year-old Huntington Beach man died after attempting to rescue a fellow swimmer at Table Rock Beach.
A 29-year-old Bloomington man was found floating dead off the beach on Aug. 21.
The body of a 56-year-old Dana Point man was found Aug. 29 at Table Rock after an extensive search by multiple agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard.
County-operated beaches in South Laguna, including Table Rock Beach, are closed to the public from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. OC Lifeguards, a private lifeguard contractor servicing South Laguna, has extended its hours into the evening as beachgoers linger at the beach to escape the summer heat. OC Parks has also hired private security to assist park rangers with asking visitors to leave after dark.
Residents of the neighborhood overlooking Table Rock admit that nothing will stop insistent beachgoers from climbing over a gate, South Laguna resident John Thomas said. However, they argue the County still should do everything it can to enforce its beach operating hours and protect public safety.
It’s also unlikely that the County would need additional staff to operate a gate. County maintenance workers cleaning up trash could unlock the gate in the early morning and a lifeguard could lock up before heading home for the night, Thomas said.
“The gate is simply to help the police and other public safety agencies enforce the hours that the beach is supposed to be closed,” Thomas said. “Anyone arguing that this impacts legal beach access is missing the point and inaccurate.”
