I'm usually not one for activism, but this situation seems to warrant it. Paddlewise people ignore if outside CA. BASK please send this out to your membership. The lagoon is a navigable waterway (open access to the sea), but access from the sea is not allowed. It is blocked with "closed area" buoys all the time. The city of Carlsbad controls the inner lagoon and the fee is $9 per boat. On top of that, since access from the sea is not allowed, there is another $3 charge for parking. All combined, this is far higher than any access costs in the state of CA that I am aware of. Agua Hedionda lagoon is a very inviting recreational area for human power craft. The connection of a calm lagoon and open ocean makes the area very versatile allowing calm water paddling and open ocean paddling. Also, it is one of the few areas in Southern California where paddlers can practice in and experience the effects of tidal currents. The current are not too fast, but they seem to be the best we have in SoCal. My understanding is that the lagoons have always been open to the sea, but that the power company may have deepened/widened the outer basin. It seems all too convenient for the city of Carlsbad to be controlling this waterway. They charge exorbitant fees for launching human powered craft. This is not an ecological issue because they allow PWC and other power craft. It's strictly for money. When I contacted the Army Corps of Engineers they didn't know much about it. When they checked, they came back with a "security" issue regarding railroad tracks that pass over the inner channel. The "security" issue is bunk. Railroad tracks are not secured areas and other power plants in SoCal have access right up to the fence of the plant - including San Onofre. This is just an excuse to block access from the sea because if it were open form the sea, they wouldn't be able to charge people to use the lagoon. They might argue that the power plant opened the mouth. If it was done, it was done years ago. Likely they didn't open it, but deepened it so that it is navigable at all times and by larger craft. Likely it was previously similar to the Batiquitos lagoon which is a little south from there. The mouth is navigable during tidal exchange with a kayak, but from what I have seen, you wouldn't want to take a larger craft through there. Finding the true facts after all these years could be difficult, but I would contend they are irrelevant. It is my intent to get this changed through legal channels. I have asked the Army Corps of Engineers to look into it, but they have been significantly unresponsive. By far the easiest route is if they have jurisdiction, and just declares it a navigable waterway. Other methods are more difficult, but worthwhile if necessary. . There is probably a compromise possible here. For example, if they open access from the sea to allow full use of the lagoons, the $9 fee could probably be tolerated (it's $45 max per year). The current situation is unacceptable though. If you agree, send an email indicating that you want access to the Lagoon mouth opened as a proper navigable waterway. The following addresses are a good place to start: publicaffairs-spl_at_usace.army.mil <mailto:publicaffairs-spl_at_spl01.usace.army.mil?subject=Public%20Affairs%20In quiry%20%20&body=%0a%0c%0a%0a%0c%20%0aplease%20enter%20your%20name,%20email, %20and%20question...%0a%0a%0c%0athank%20you%0a> Gregory.A.Fuderer_at_spl01.usace.army.mil Mark.Durham_at_spl01.usace.army.mil Tiffany.A.Troxel_at_spl01.usace.army.mil Robert.J.Lawrence_at_spl01.usace.army.mil Jennie.Salas_at_spl01.usace.army.mil Fred.O.Egeler_at_spl01.usace.army.mil Another avenue is to put the city on notice that we don't like the rules and plan to do something about it. Here is the contact numbers for Lagoon access: (760) 602-4686 3096 Harding Street Carlsbad CA 92008 (760) 602-7514 (760) 434-7287 (fax) Alternatively, you could use form access to the parks and recreation department. It's a pain, but will work. If the Army Corps declares the lagoon a navigable waterway, the city will loose all control of access from the sea. They will want to keep that from happening (compromise): http://www.ci.carlsbad.ca.us/contact/ I think if we are courteous, but forceful and relentless this can likely be changed. In your email, please ask them to contact me for follow-up and I will coordinate further activities. If you are an attorney who would like to take this on as a hobby please let me know. steve_at_brown-web.net Steve Brown *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Jun 30 2003 - 04:28:33 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:08 PDT