North County Transit District launched new data this week to indicate that its plans to put in a fence alongside the railroad tracks in Del Mar could have minimal results on seashore entry and views from blufftop houses.
But the maps, visual simulations and other data introduced by the district’s consultants, CivilPros, a nationwide engineering consulting agency, seem unlikely to sway Del Mar residents, who’ve fought the fence for the reason that district proposed the concept within the Nineties. They are saying the fence is pointless as a result of folks have discovered to search for trains and safely cross the tracks or stroll the paths beside the railroad.
“The sketches I noticed yesterday could be devastating to our whole area in the event that they transfer ahead,” Del Mar Mayor Terry Gaasterland stated in an electronic mail Thursday, Oct. 14.
“The fencing doesn’t remedy the issues they are saying they need to remedy,” she stated. “And it will likely be horrible to lose this final stretch of accessible coastal bluff in San Diego County with its vistas and trails.”
The district introduced in October 2020 that by the tip of the yr it might construct a 6-foot chain hyperlink fence on the fringe of the right-of-way on each side of the monitor from Coast Boulevard to the North Torrey Pines bridge, a distance of about 1.7 miles.
Del Mar residents had been outraged, and the plan stalled for additional negotiations with the town. Lots of of individuals wrote letters to the NCTD board of administrators opposing the fence. Thus far no contract has been awarded to construct the fence, and development is unlikely till a minimum of subsequent yr.
Earlier this yr the transit district introduced plans to scale back the general size of the fence from 12,960 ft to five,698 ft, decrease some sections from 6 ft to 4 ft tall, and exchange some sections of the chain-link fashion with a decrease and extra aesthetically pleasing post-and-cable design. The revisions additionally moved the chain hyperlink fence off elements of the higher bluff and right down to the monitor stage the place it will likely be out of sight from the coastal houses.
NCTD’s consultants will current the most recent data on the fence at Monday’s, Oct. 18 Del Mar Metropolis Council assembly and once more at Thursday’s, Oct. 21 NCTD board assembly.
The newest plan has 4-foot-high, four-strand, post-and-cable fence as an alternative of the chain-link barrier alongside the highest of the bluff east of the monitor for nearly a mile from Ninth Avenue south to Fourth Avenue.
“That fencing is just not wanted,” Gaasterland stated. “Nobody has fallen from the higher bluff the place the path is large and dense vegetation supplies a pure delineation.”
Transit officers say the fence will enhance security and reliability as trains on the route proceed to extend. The Coaster commuter service runs a mean of twenty-two trains every weekday between Oceanside and San Diego, a complete that’s anticipated to extend to 44 trains every weekday by 2025, in accordance with a district employees report.
Including to the necessity for safety, the district bought new Coaster locomotives that went into service this yr and are quieter, extra gasoline environment friendly and doubtlessly sooner that the earlier 30-year-old engines. That makes the trains harder to listen to coming, particularly round a curve on the bluffs in Del Mar and when the locomotive is pushing as an alternative of pulling the practice.
Each Amtrak, which runs passenger trains, and BNSF, which runs freight trains, additionally plan to extend service on the one rail hyperlink between San Diego and Los Angeles.
Orange County’s Metrolink commuter practice, which now solely goes as far south as Oceanside, might start journeys to San Diego for particular occasions underneath a current settlement with NCTD. In all of the San Diego County rail hall might deal with 100 trains per day by 2030, in accordance with NCTD.
Encinitas councilmember Tony Kranz, chairman of the NCTD board, stated the company has gone the additional mile to fulfill Del Mar residents and nonetheless hold the railroad protected.
“We took a step again … and made a sensible funding to indicate we are able to work with a neighborhood to handle their issues,” Kranz stated Friday, Oct. 15. “The brand new design does simply that.”
The revised plan has much less impact on views and permits folks to proceed utilizing the paths that run parallel to the railroad tracks, but nonetheless improves security, he stated.
“There isn’t a query there’s a totally different threshold of security that comes with every peak and materials,” Kranz stated. “The most secure method could be to construct a 50-foot-tall cinder block wall. Even then some surfer would come alongside together with his 50-foot ladder.”
Strolling on the tracks or the adjoining right-of-way is taken into account trespassing by the transit district, though tickets are hardly ever, if ever, issued.
The one long-term resolution is to maneuver the railroad off the coast, Kranz stated.
NCTD is working with the San Diego Affiliation of Governments on a plan for an inland tunnel by means of Del Mar, however development is a minimum of a decade away and can price billions of {dollars}. Preliminary research are underway, however up to now no cash has been allotted for development.
Till there’s a brand new route, the businesses will attempt to hold the tracks protected the place they’re.
“The modified fencing plan supplies a security barrier that doesn’t at the moment exist, whereas minimizing the visible influence and sustaining entry,” NCTD Government Director Matt Tucker stated by electronic mail Thursday, Oct. 14.
“It represents a big security enchancment and supplies a barrier for path customers that they need to not trespass,” Tucker stated. “That is one a part of complete effort alongside the hall promote rail security and reliability. Now we have labored to be attentive to the issues of Del Mar neighborhood and the California Coastal Fee as we make vital security enhancements.”
The transit district obtained a $1.3 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration in 2018 to put in extra fencing as a technique to scale back trespassing, accidents, fatalities and practice delays. The common delay when a practice stops for a “vital occasion” akin to a fatality is 2 hours, in accordance with a district employees report.
Prepare site visitors has been growing for many years with the expansion of San Diego County’s commuter rail system, together with pedestrian fatalities, accidents and near-misses.
Del Mar averaged one train-related dying per yr from 2016 by means of 2020, in accordance with the district. In a single occasion an individual was hit whereas strolling alongside the tracks carrying headphones, and in one other an individual was struck by a freight practice whereas attempting to take a “selfie” on the bluffs.
The practice tracks are fenced off in most elements of San Diego County. Del Mar, the place the tracks are closest to the ocean, is likely one of the few areas that also has no barrier.
Building of the fence usually would require issues akin to constructing permits to be accepted by the town, the Coastal Fee and different jurisdictions.
In an try to move off any issues with these approvals, the transit district filed a “petition for declaratory order” with the federal Floor Transportation Board in August 2020 asking the board to waive state and native permits for the mission.
Del Mar and the Coastal Fee each opposed the request, and up to now the board has made no choice on the petition.
