Photo shows the Mannix Avenue public access way staircase in Cayucos looking upwards from the beach. Photo by SLO County
County Supervisors approved an agreement that will get the ball rolling on replacing a public access stairway from the Cayucos Bluff down to the beach, and an orthopedic surgeon who wants to shore-up his house will foot a significant portion of the bill.
Dr. Marshall Lewis, an orthopedic surgeon in the Central Valley had applied to build a seawall in Cayucos shoring up the bluff below his home.
When his project, an approximately 145-foot long and 30-45-foot tall seawall that would improve an existing seawall, went before the Coastal Commission, the board concluded that his project would cause significant environmental impacts.
The decision was that the project impacts could be mitigated through “various measures.” Those included Dr. Lewis working with County Parks and Recreation on a project to replace a public access way at Mannix Avenue, which had deteriorated so badly it’s been closed to the public for some time. Mannix Avenue is a short 1-block street off Studio Drive in South Cayucos.
The Commission’s conditional approval of a Coastal Development Permit called for “the restoration of the stairway at the Mannix Avenue coastal access way,” a County report quoting the Commission’s decision reads, “to in as good or better condition as it’s last significant overhaul, including concrete foundation and wooden stairway improvements.”
He also has to remove invasive plant species and re-replant with native plants along the stairway, and improvements to a storm drain that empties onto the beach adjacent to the stairway.
The County and Dr. Lewis’ agreement involved him paying $250,000 towards the overall project, which the County estimates will cost upwards of $1.3 million.
Overall, “The plan includes replacement of the beach access stairway in its entirety with similar or better-quality materials; including, but not limited to: (1) installing a new storm drain inlet, public access signage, a bench with an accessible landing, and garbage receptacles; (2) replacing the asphalt transition from the street to the pathway and concrete pathway leading to the stairs; and (3) addressing various accessibility-related deficiencies,” the County report said.
The quarter-million-dollar payment will just get the paperwork done. “The $250,000 funding contribution from Dr. Marshall Lewis,” the report said, “will enable the Public Works Department to initiate the project by preparing design plans, completing environmental review, and obtaining necessary permits.”
Once they get that preliminary work completed, Public Works will have a better idea on the costs.
“Public Works Department will refine the cost estimate,” the report said, “and return to the Board with a request for the funding necessary to complete construction by the Commission-established deadline of Jan. 1, 2028.”
The stairway’s condition and subsequent closure was discovered through the County’s “Facility Condition Assessment Program,” an inspection and survey of County-owned public facilities like the beach access ways in Cayucos, which were created by the Coastal Commission decades ago.
Over the years several of these steep stairways have fallen into disrepair and been closed. A major one at 1st Street and Pacific Avenue, was closed for some 12 years before the County could make repairs, which are always very costly.
The 1st Street project cost some $271,000 when it was completed in 2019.
How the program works is, “each facility is assigned a Facility Condition Index (“FCI”) which is the ratio of the cost to correct all deferred maintenance deficiencies within a facility divided by the current replacement value of the facility.
“The FCI is structured such that the lower the rating, the better relative condition.”
Mannix Avenue access way had an 83% FCI rating, but once it gets replaced and repaired, the rating will drop to zero.
Cayucos has some 24 beach access ways scattered from 1st Street down to the end of Studio Drive.
“Furthermore,” the County said, “upon completion of the project, the beach access way will be reopened to the public, and an ongoing maintenance plan will be established and implemented by the Parks & Recreation Department.”
