Stairway access to the beach at Lampton Cliffs Park in Cambria remains blocked. A fence has been up since last year and San Luis Obispo County Parks & Rec says this repair project is one of their biggest projects right now.
Michael Henderson lives in Cambria and says he walks around Lampton Cliffs Park three times a week but misses having easy access to the beach.
“We used to take our grandkids down here. My wife and I go down and walk at the tidepools and always look forward to that,” Henderson said.
Winter storms last year along with recent storm surges heavily damaged the stairs off Lampton Street and Sherwood Drive, even wiping them out at the bottom.
KSBY News reporter Sophia Villalba checked in with SLO County Parks & Recreation Director Tanya Richardson to find out why, more than a year later, the area is still blocked off. Richardson says it’s due to the magnitude of the project as the entire accessway will need to be replaced and that could come at a cost of between $500,000 and $1 million.
“That seems just crazy,” Henderson said about the cost.
But David Treeson, who lives in Cambria during the winter months, wasn’t surprised.
“I’m not surprised at all, and I’m not surprised that it costs a significant amount of money to fix,” Treeson said.
Irene Aldrich also lives in the town part-time and walks her dogs in the area everyday. She says she’s noticed fewer people going down to the water since the staircase was closed.
“We go down, we take the grandkids and explore. We take the dogs. We watch the wildlife. We’ve seen dolphins play in the surf and the surfers like it,” Aldrich said.
While the county is funding the project, County Parks is hoping to be eligible for some FEMA reimbursement.
While those details get sorted out, many locals are looking forward to the staircase being back open.
“It’s a gem. It’s a jewel here on the Central Coast to be able to walk down here and explore,” Henderson said.
“It’d just be such a wonderful addition for not only the people that live here but we get lots of visitors because of Fiscalini Park which is just a few blocks away,” Treeson said.
Richardson says the Lampton Cliffs stairway access to the beach is currently in its project design phase and it's unknown when the stairs may be back open.
