Environment

Part Of Del Mar Wetlands Boardwalk To Remain

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published April 9, 2015 at 12:52 PM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

People are pictured walking on part of the Del Mar boardwalk in this undated photo.

Supporters of the Del Mar boardwalk through the San Dieguito Lagoon are pleased with a compromise reached with California Coastal Commission staff to let a portion of the walk way remain.

The commission had failed to approve a request to leave the boardwalk once a major wetlands restoration project is complete near the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Trish Boaz, with the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy, said between 500 and 600 feet of the 1,200-foot boardwalk will remain, along with a viewing platform.

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“There were risks going to the Coastal Commission again and being denied," Boaz said. "So, by having this 500 feet of boardwalk remaining, people will still have the ability to go out on the viewing platform and having the wetlands around them.”

The remaining boardwalk will connect with a new part of the Coast to Crest trail that will run along Jimmy Durant Boulevard, Boaz said.

As part of the agreement, the 22nd District Agricultural Association will pay for the removal of the other part of the boardwalk, along with some of the parking lots at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

It’s part of a historic agreement reached between the Coastal Commission and the Fairgrounds in 2012 to restore several hundred acres of wetlands near the mouth of the San Dieguito River.

Southern California has lost more than 75 percent of its original coastal wetlands, which are called a rare and vital part of the coastal ecosystem.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.