Coastal Commission to Weigh Carlsbad Townhome Plan Opposed by Park Advocates

The California Coastal Commission is scheduled to decide Thursday whether to approve zoning changes that would let developer H.G. Fenton move ahead with a 120-unit rental townhome project on an 11-acre parcel near Ponto Beach in Carlsbad, a decision that caps a fight over the land stretching back more than a decade.

At its Oct. 8 meeting, the commission will consider amendments proposed by the City of Carlsbad to the Poinsettia Shores Master Plan and Local Coastal Program. The changes would replace the parcel’s current “unplanned” designation with residential and commercial land uses. If the commission signs off, the amendments would still have to go before the Carlsbad City Council, which isn’t expected to take up the matter until early next year.

The property, known as Planning Area F, is vacant land sandwiched between Coast Highway and Interstate 5, just south of South Ponto Beach and adjacent to the South Carlsbad State Beach campground. Fenton bought the parcel in 2022 and has proposed PI Townhomes, a 120-unit rental complex with more than 340 parking spaces. The project can’t proceed until the Coastal Commission signs off on the zoning amendments.

City officials say the land has effectively been zoned for residential and commercial use since 2016, when both Carlsbad and the Coastal Commission approved that designation, and argue the current amendments simply align the master plan with that earlier decision. The city has also said there is no open-space designation on the property and that no one — not the commission, the city, or the developer — is considering one, according to ABC10 News.

Opponents Want a Park Instead

A grassroots organization called People for Ponto contends the 11 acres are the last undeveloped, unplanned stretch of coastal land in the area and represent a rare chance to add public parkland along a heavily built-up coastline. The group notes that North Carlsbad has roughly 37 acres spread across 10 coastal parks west of I-5, while South Carlsbad has none.

“Planning Area F at Ponto is the last vacant, unplanned coastal land in this area. This is a ‘now or never’ opportunity to provide a meaningful public coastal park,” the group says on its website.

People for Ponto says it has gathered more than 20,000 petition signatures and is calling for at least 7 acres of the site to be set aside as a community park.

Michael Sebahar of People for Ponto has spent years campaigning against turning the land into another housing development.

“I’ve never lost the vision of what it could be just this beautiful open space where we can host concerts where people can watch sunsets where we can have marathons start and finish, where people can come and just hang out with their kids,” Sebahar told ABC 10 News.

A Decade-Long Dispute

The debate over Planning Area F dates back to at least 2010, when the Coastal Commission rejected Carlsbad’s Ponto Beachfront Village Vision Plan, finding the city hadn’t adequately weighed public park and visitor-serving uses for the site. Similar objections resurfaced in 2016 and 2017, according to the Coast News.

People for Ponto argues Fenton’s current proposal closely mirrors the development plan the commission turned down years earlier.