La Jolla seals may be allowed to stay on beach
The pro-seal faction in the seals versus children dispute at the Children's Pool beach in La Jolla today won a major and possibly decisive victory.
The state Assembly voted 71-0 to endorse a bill by state Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) to allow the San Diego City Council to decide whether the beach should be a marine sanctuary, thus allowing the seals to remain. The bill already passed the Senate and now awaits the governor's signature.
For two decades the city has been caught in a dispute over the tiny beach.
The 1931 deed that gave the beach to the city requires that it be maintained for children. But now 100-plus seals lounge on the beach and their waste makes it largely unusable for humans.
A San Diego County Superior Court judge has ordered the city to clean up the beach. But a federal court judge has ordered the city not to disturb the seals, which are protected by federal law.
Caught between the two courts, the City Council has grown weary of the controversy, which has cost an estimated $1 million in legal fees. To satisfy the Superior Court dictum, the city has devised a proposed $700,000 a year plan to use noise and sprays of water to shoo the seals off the beach.
The bill sponsored by Kehoe amends the 1931 deed. If signed by the governor, the bill could allow the cash-strapped city to walk away from the controversy and leave the beach to the seals.
A court hearing is set for next week.
-- Tony Perry in San Diego
Photo: Seals in La Jolla. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
