California beach town erupts over $10M sidewalk project that blocks ocean views

Fort Bragg residents were getting a safer, more accessible sidewalk.What they also got was a towering wooden fence that locals say has turned a scenic stretch of Highway 1 into an ocean-view blockade.The nearly $10 million sidewalk project has sparked a local revolt and prompted Caltrans to plan changes to the controversial barrier.“CalTrans has done a bad thing and it needs to be undone,” Fort Bragg resident Bonnie Brayton told SFGATE via email.The $9.5 million project is intended to improve pedestrian access and bring the sidewalk into compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act standards.The work spans nearly the entire city, from the Route 20 intersection to Elm Street.But the sidewalk is not what has residents fired up.It is the fence.The old wooden barrier was low, worn and unobtrusive.It preserved views of Noyo Headlands Park and the ocean beyond it.The replacement fence is much taller, blocking those views and leaving locals furious about what they say is a needless change to the town’s coastal character.Mary Rose Kaczorowski, a candidate for city council, said the fence has become a blow to Fort Bragg’s identity.

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By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story “Did anyone stop to ask how this substantially higher fence would affect the people who live here or how it would change the view at the entrance to our town?” Kaczorowski wrote in a letter to the editor of the Ukaih Daily Journal, cited by SFGate.The complaints have reached local businesses, too.Aiden McFadden, who works at the Seabird Lodge, said that guests have already started complaining about the obstruction.“We’re marketing towards being a sea town, but you can’t see the sea.

It’s a bit of a buzzkill,” McFadden told SFGATE by phone.Mendocino Railway owns the prope...