The city’s latest coastal resilience play at Sunset Cliffs is already stirring up the neighborhood. A new phase of San Diego’s Coastal Resilience Master Plan calls for pulling parking back from the bluff edge and turning a stretch of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard into a one-way, southbound road. In exchange, the city would build a separated multi-use path for pedestrians and cyclists and remove paved parking perched right on the cliffs to limit erosion and protect public safety. Neighbors say they are not convinced, arguing that more traffic routed through quiet residential streets and fewer curbside spaces have not been fully explained or justified.
According to Times of San Diego, Leon Scales, chair of the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Council, said homeowners are “generally opposed” to converting the boulevard to one-way traffic. Residents quoted in the story worry that a permanent one-way change would push northbound cars and parking demand into nearby residential streets. Business owners on Voltaire Street told the outlet they fear spillover parking will reshuffle foot traffic patterns, even as some locals welcome the thought of a wider, calmer walkway along the cliffs.
What the city is proposing
Per the City of San Diego’s Coastal Resilience Master Plan, the Sunset Cliffs project area runs roughly from Adair Street to Ladera Street. The concept calls for pulling parking away from the cliff edge, enhancing trails, and revegetating the narrow park along the roadway. For the southern section, the plan contemplates a road reconfiguration that would carve out a separated multi-use path alongside a single southbound travel lane. The city says any such change would be guided by traffic studies and temporary pilot projects. Within the CRMP, these proposals are described as nature-based strategies intended to reduce erosion risks while also improving coastal access and public safety.
Neighbors fear traffic, parking and property impacts
In interviews with Times of San Diego, nearby residents warned that converting Sunset Cliffs Boulevard to one-way could “shift the traffic into residential streets” such as Cornish and Devonshire. Some argue that removing the northbound lane alone will not address upper-cliff erosion that threatens both homes and the park. Voltaire Street business owner Aaron Null told the outlet the proposed changes “will completely transform how the area is used,” but said a wider pedestrian and bike path could be an improvement if it is rolled out carefully. Several community members say they want a balanced strategy that pairs nature-based solutions with engineered protections to preserve both private properties and public coastal access.
Funding, schedule and pilots
The city says Phase 2 of the master plan is fully grant-funded through the California State Coastal Conservancy and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Under the current schedule, work from September 2025 through January 2027 will focus on developing 15 percent design plans, completing CEQA analysis, and carrying out technical studies. Phase 2 will also estimate construction costs and launch initial engineering for the four project sites selected by the City Council. City staff have emphasized that any change to existing traffic patterns would first be tested as a temporary pilot so the city can measure real-world impacts before proposing anything permanent…