Encinitas grants one-year extension to surf schools to use beach

Current surf school permit holders can keep their beach spots in Encinitas next year, but a proposed overhaul of the permit process needs a great deal more work, the City Council decided late Wednesday.

Council members unanimously agreed to give the nine current permit holders — plus one that received permission, but didn’t use its allotted spot this year — permission to continue their classes next year at their designated beach spots.

However, a new proposal to revise the city’s application system, with the goal of streamlining it and making it less subjective, is going back to the drawing board. Council members said the city Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department proposal needs to be rethought and decided to create an ad-hoc committee to craft revisions.

Councilmembers Jim O’Hara and Luke Shaffer will serve on the new committee, and surfing industry representatives will be invited to participate in its meetings.

“I think we throw the (scoring) rubric out and come back with something that’s clear,” O’Hara, who suggested forming the committee, said before the council’s vote.

Encinitas should treat the surf schools like downtown’s Mom and Pop retail shops, instead of trying to assess whether they’re doing a good job by requiring them to submit many documents, including instructor education levels and a company business plan, he said.

“We have a responsibility to get out of their way and help them build their business,” O’Hara said.

Surf schools pay Encinitas $5 per student, per day, to use a spot on the beach for their classes during the summer peak beach use period. City fee revenue from the permits ranges from $23,000 to $41,000 each year, and the money is set aside for beach-related projects.

Encinitas began reviewing its permitting system last year after the city had to eliminate some areas where it had allowed surf schools to operate. That action came after state officials, who were looking into landslide issues, reviewed their beach jurisdiction maps and determined that some spots Encinitas thought it controlled, actually were under state jurisdiction. Because the city didn’t control those areas, it could face legal liability issues if it granted surf schools permits to use them, city parks and lifeguarding officials have said.

In addition to changing the surf school locations, the city also reduced the number of students permitted in the classes. Those changes were partially due to an assessment of surf school impacts on lifeguarding services, Encinitas Fire Chief Josh Gordon said.

The new enrollment limits, the new beach site changes and the proposal to overhaul the permitting system have hit Maui Surf Academy particularly hard, owner Matthew Allen told the council.

Allen said he previously was allowed to have more than 30 students and he’s now limited to 15. The YMCA, which operates an all-day camp next to his designated beach spot, went from 36 to 30, and that means the city is giving preferential treatment to a large business over a small one, he said. He’s hosted his school for 15 years, and wants to pass it on to his daughter, but these changes make it extremely difficult to do so, he said.

Council members said they would like to increase Maui Surf Academy’s permitted student number to 20, but they want to do that without changing the YMCA’s new 30-student limit. Perhaps, Encinitas could increase its summer lifeguard staffing levels to make this happen, Councilmember Marco San Antonio suggested.

City Manager Jennifer Campbell said now is a good time to consider adding lifeguard services because the city is embarking on its budget-setting process for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.