If you’ve ever been to Mission Beach, you’ve probably seen the big lifeguard tower by Belmont Park and noticed the tower is falling apart. NBC 7’S Shelby Bremer has the latest on how much money it will cost the city to fix it.
A San Diego City Council committee on Thursday advanced a proposal for $1 million to repair the Mission Beach lifeguard station, nearly a year after a structural evaluation of the building found “immediate hazard mitigation needs to occur.”
The committee’s vote was unanimous, 4-0, sending the request to the full city council.
San Diego Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief James Gaboury said the station is the busiest in San Diego and responsible for lifeguard personnel at Mission Bay as well. He said the structure was built in 1982 and has reached the end of its service life.
Large, visible cracks run through the external walls, and barricades have been placed around the southwest side of the building to protect pedestrians from any falling debris.
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Gaboury appeared before the committee Thursday to make the case for the funding: $1 million in the current fiscal year for immediate repairs to the existing building, and then $2 million in the fiscal year beginning in July for a temporary facility if needed, as the city explores building a brand new station. The cost for that is not yet known.
“The timeline is: once we get the funding approved, we'll move forward with evaluations and design on the repairs,” Gaboury said. “And then once we have those, we'll know if we need to put in a temporary facility or not, and how that temporary facility will look.”
When asked about operational impacts during the committee meeting, Lifeguard Chief James Gartland said, “the goal is to spend as few summers out of that station as we possibly can, so that’s why we’re taking this slow approach here and trying to get the repairs in place so we can stay there until we can get a good plan, solid plan, to replace the actual station.”
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A staff report on the funding proposal noted that a structural evaluation by an architectural firm on May 9, 2024, found that “immediate hazard mitigation needs to occur for the Health, Safety, and Welfare of the general public.”
The staff report also flagged that the city had solicited quotes from vendors on temporary repairs to make the facility safe, but “each of the vendors approached has declined to provide a quote given the current condition of the building.”
“Given this, there is an imminent threat to public health and safety that is two-fold,” the report reads. “First, there is risk of falling debris from the building as the concrete masonry pulls away from the structure due to the spalling of rebar. Falling debris could harm staff who come in and out of the building routinely and/or could harm the pedestrians, cyclists, other visitors, given the proximity to the public boardwalk. Second, there is risk of decreased ability to manage public safety on the beach should the building be red-tagged and there not be a facility in which to move Lifeguard operations.”
“Ultimately, we need a long-term solution to this. The station ultimately does need to be replaced,” said Connor Robbins, the San Diego lifeguard union leader.
“It's known amongst lifeguards as the busiest station. We have millions of visitors each year, and we make thousands of rescues there,” Robbins continued. “The health and safety of our workforce is directly linked to the health and safety of the public that visits our beaches, so we want a facility where we can properly observe the beach, make sure that we respond to anyone in trouble.”
“This station looks like it’s going to fall down,” said James Lepisto, who lives near Mission Beach and walks past the tower every day. “If the outside's cracking, guaranteed the inside is not good shape either.”
“The amount of money that the city is in debt, it's, you know, it’s hard to justify putting up a new lifeguard station because they don't have the money to take care of the homeless or all the other problems that San Diego has, so it's all politics,” he said, adding, "It's obvious that it needs replaced."
Mark Marquez works at the souvenir shop next to the station, each day directly facing the largest crack in the building.
“It's been getting bigger, bigger, bigger as the months have been passing by,” he said. “Just waiting for the day that it collapses, to be honest with you. We're here taking bets and stuff like that, like, ‘Oh, is today the day it’s going to fall?’”
