UCSD again withdraws Scripps Coastal Reserve application for refiling weeks before planned hearing

Groundhog Day isn’t until Feb. 2, but the process of getting a California Coastal Commission review of UC San Diego’s plans for La Jolla’s Scripps Coastal Reserve may have some people hearing “I Got You Babe” a la Bill Murray in the 1993 movie as he experiences the same things over and over.

Less than three weeks before a Coastal Commission hearing was set to take place to determine the extent of public access at the reserve, the university withdrew its application to carry on the current “restricted access” with plans to resubmit it, repeating a scenario that occurred last year and continuing a series of delays that have prolonged the process.

The reason for the withdrawal and a new hearing date were not immediately available. 

When a hearing eventually is held, it will be after roughly six years of the reserve being predominantly closed to the public and after about two years of multiple exchanges between Coastal Commission staff and UC San Diego, which administers the nearly 1,000-acre reserve adjacent to UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 

The scenic site, which can be viewed from a half-mile loop trail along what is known as the Mesa across the top of the reserve, has been mostly closed since the beginning of statewide COVID-19 restrictions in March 2020. Volunteer maintenance is allowed from 8 to 10 a.m. Fridays, and a docent-led tour is offered from 9 to 11 a.m. the first Saturday of each month.

Before the restrictions, the reserve was open from 7 a.m. to sunset daily. Now its gate is locked unless tours are being given or the reserve is being used by UCSD students.

A 2023 administrative post on the Scripps Coastal Reserve’s Facebook page said visitors’ misuse of the area was the primary reason for the closure.

That has been disputed by many La Jolla residents, who also point to the California Coastal Act, which requires a coastal development permit for a change of public access to a coastal site. Residents have accused UCSD of violating that law by continuing to limit access without a permit after the state officially lifted its pandemic emergency declaration in February 2023, though the university did not apply for a permit until 2024.

After months of questions and back-and-forth, commission staff said in late 2024 that it was likely the application would be considered complete and ready for a hearing by April 1, 2025. But in March 2025, staff extended the hearing deadline to June 30.

UCSD then withdrew its application in April at commission staff’s request to give the university “more time to work through issues concerning coastal resources raised by the application,” including its “consistency with the California Coastal Act,” Coastal Commission enforcement staff counsel Andrew Willis said at the time.

The university quickly resubmitted the application, effectively starting the review process again, and a Nov. 12 hearing deadline was set.

However, in October, the Coastal Commission agreed to another 90-day extension. 

With a new deadline of Feb. 10 this year, a review was tentatively planned for the commission’s meeting Feb. 4-6. 

However, the application again was withdrawn for resubmittal, according to correspondence dated Jan. 16. 

It wasn’t immediately clear whether there is a limit to the number of times an application can be withdrawn and resubmitted.