Residents raise concerns over Del Mar housing project

 
DEL MAR, Calif. – Some Del Mar residents are concerned the bluff north of the Dog Beach is not stable enough for a proposed housing project.

“We need some reports that really tell us what’s really going on here,” said Carla Hayes, with Friends of Del Mar North Bluff.

Hayes is leading the effort to fund two reports on Del Mar North Bluff about its stability and depth of its sea caves, because that bluff may be the future home of affordable housing project Seaside Ridge.

“Everybody in this community knows that that bluff happens to be very fragile and is sliding all the time. When you see the sea caves, and you see all this dirt sloughing off, little rockslides pretty much year-round, you can can’t predict it,” Hayes said.

She’s hired a Scripps Institute researcher and geotechnical engineer at a cost of around $15,000.

The reports will likely be completed in the coming weeks and a GoFundMe started by Hayes reached more than $3,000 as of Wednesday evening.

In a statement from the spokesperson for Seaside Ridge Darren Pudgil, they say a study was done over the last year.

“It found that the base of the bluff is strong and globally stable and that the nearby sea caves would have no negative impact as the project incorporates design features that are sensitive to the north bluff’s specific soil composition. These ...