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Caution: Hard Hat Area

Oceanfront Apartment Building to Become Part of Ocean

Matt Berger, executive producer

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An apartment complex situated on a picturesque seaside bluff near the oceanside community of Pacifica, Calif., was evacuated today as the earthy cliffs that separated it from the Pacific ocean collapse beside it.

According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, as much as 40 feet of land has disappeared next to the property in the past year, and the erosion reached a fever pitch on Thursday when the cliff began crumbling at an alarming rate causing residents to flee. 

Which leads me to the reason I'm posting this one under Caution: Hard Hat Area. Whoever thought that it was a good idea to build a residence in this location was not thinking straight.

Having spent much of my life as a California resident, I have often wondered why so many people choose to build on top of cliffs, under cliffs, and sometimes on the side of cliffs, knowing perfectly well that even the best foundations can't fight mother nature. At least, not for long...

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Comments (3)

DanLyke writes: The friend of a father of a friend bought a house on the bluffs in Pacifica just after WWII. I visited twice, in the late '90s, they said they'd started with about 80' of back yard back in the late 1940s, they were down to 40' or so and were working with the city to put rock at the base of the cliff.

Two years later the house tumbled into the ocean.

I think it's probably easy to say "the building will last longer that the mortgage, the view is worth that". And for the most part that's fine, it's just that it may be decades with no appreciable erosion, and then one bad storm will take out 20', and you can have a few of those in a rainy season.

Posted: 11:27 am on December 21st

oldbeachbum writes: Greedy builders, greedy municpalities (think higher taxes), people with more money than brains and insurance companies not doing their job.

I know this area and it is earthquake prone, as well. Thus us near a streatch of coast highway locally know as Devil's Slide http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/dslide/dsphotos.htm

Seems like someone is "buying off" for zoning and permits. Look closely.

Just sayin'!
Posted: 3:41 am on December 19th

MashedThumbs writes: Speaking as a geologist, Obey gravity, its the law. All waterfront property is temporary. The only thing dumber than building on an ocean front cliff is building below sea level (does New Orleans come to mind).
Posted: 10:55 am on December 18th

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