Coastal town revolts after $9.5M upgrade walls off beloved ocean views: 'You can't see the sea'

A California state agency is changing its construction plans following an outcry from residents who said a new fence was blocking the town's ocean views.

The California Department of Transportation's (Caltrans) approximately $9.5 million improvement project was undertaken to address pedestrian safety and disability access along Highway 1 through Fort Bragg in Northern California's Mendocino County.

But as soon as residents saw a tall new fence start to go up, they took action.

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"The entrance to our town now has a fence that is substantially higher than the original fence and blocks the view of the ocean - a view that has long been part of what makes Fort Bragg special," Mary Rose Kaczorowski, a candidate for Fort Bragg City Council, wrote in a letter to the editor of the Ukiah Daily Journal.

"This is not simply a matter of replacing an existing fence; it changes the character and view of one of our town's important gateways," she wrote.

The new fence along Main Street replaced an older, shorter wooden fence that allowed passersby to see the Noyo Headlands and ocean beyond it, according to SFGATE.

"We're marketing towards being a sea town, but you can't see the sea. It's a bit of a buzzkill," Aiden McFadden, a front-desk associate at the Seabird Lodge, told SFGATE.

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"We understand why they're putting in the fencing, but we didn't expect there to be an actual wall, a barrier, between us and the ocean view," she said. "The original fence did its work."

Kaczorowski wrote that residents and "everyone who comes to Fort Bragg" deserved "a clear explanation of why this substantially higher fence was installed and how the decision was made."

"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?" she wrote. 

"That is precisely why coastal local residents are shocked and angry at the fence that blocks our coastal view."

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Caltrans held an open house for public comment on the project in April.

In August, Fort Bragg City Manager Isaac Whippy said in a news release that the city had heard the community's concerns regarding the new wooden fencing's height, appearance and impact on views.

"The fencing is part of Caltrans' Fort Bragg sidewalk and Americans with Disabilities Act improvement project," Whippy said. 

"It replaced an existing fence that was removed to accommodate sidewalk widening and accessibility improvements. The fence and its associated construction costs are components of Caltrans' broader project contract and are not a separate City construction project."

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After residents raised concerns, "City staff reviewed the permit and related project documents, which indicate that the replacement fencing was intended to match the previous conditions," the release further stated.

Whippy said he spoke directly with the project manager, who was "receptive to the concerns raised by the community and has expressed a strong commitment to working with the City and Caltrans' contractor to identify and implement appropriate modifications."

"We have a timeline for the construction crew to come back to town in the next couple of weeks for fence modifications," Whippy told SFGATE.