Tamarack Is Fenced Off. Here's Who Actually Runs Carlsbad's Beach.

"The simple answer is… we would if we could." The City of Carlsbad wrote that in a September update on its beaches. The line was about the worn-out sign at the entrance to Robert C. Frazee Beach, near the grass triangle on Carlsbad Boulevard. It also explains why the Tamarack State Beach parking lot now sits behind a fence.

The weekend before the city's Oct. 16 update, State Parks staff fenced off the Tamarack lot and the property around it. Cars haven't been able to use the lot since early September, and now people on foot can't either. State Parks has told the city it hopes to finish repairs by the end of December. Carlsbad Boulevard, the Village stairs and the bluff south of Solamar Drive are all under construction too, but those are city projects on city schedules. Knowing which agency owns the stretch you use tells you who is fixing it and when it might reopen.

Six of Seven Miles Belong to the State

Carlsbad has about seven miles of coastline, and the city owns and manages about one of them. The city's beach runs from just north of Oak Avenue to the Oceanside border, plus a small section of Terramar between Cerezo Drive and Cannon Road. Most of the beach south of Pine Street, down to the Encinitas border, belongs to the State of California through State Parks.

The neighboring cities show how unusual that is. The city says nearly all of Oceanside's beaches are owned and managed by the City of Oceanside, while Encinitas splits its beaches about half city and half state.

Those stones piled into scalloped clusters on the city's mile north of Oak are cobble cusps. The city says waves and changing ocean conditions push them into place, and that nobody dumped them there.

How Tamarack Went From 35 Blocked Spaces to a Fence

The Tamarack lot closed in stages over about two months.

1. Early August. 10News reported on Aug. 10 that Tamarack's lifeguard towers had been moved and 35 parking spaces blocked off, and it blamed strong swells and high tides. CBS 8 also linked the sand loss at Tamarack to south swell from Hurricane Genevieve.
2. Aug. 28. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the whole lot closed going into Labor Day weekend. The beach had lost much of its sand down to cobbles and rock, the seaward asphalt edge had washed away, and State Parks said the riprap had slid west toward the beach.
3. Early October. The Union-Tribune reported Oct. 5 that State Parks Lt. Sean Homer told the Carlsbad Environmental Sustainability Commission a coastal engineer had been hired to plan repairs. Bids would go out within about a month, with work done by the end of December.
4. Oct. 12. FOX 5 reported that high surf from Tropical Storm Rachel had made the erosion worse, leaving crumbling asphalt and debris inside the fenced lot.
5. Mid-October. The city's Oct. 16 update confirmed the fence and said pedestrian access was closed.

The city has been direct about its role. It says that because Tamarack is state property, it "simply does not have the authority to take the lead or start making repairs." It has offered to help if State Parks asks. The Coast News made the same point in September: the beach and lot are badly eroded, and both belong to the state.

The Seawall the City Maintains on State Land

The concrete seawall between Tamarack and Pine avenues is where the two owners overlap. The Union-Tribune reports that Carlsbad has an agreement with the state to maintain that stretch, with landscaping, benches and restrooms, to a higher standard than the state would on its own.

That's why the seawall walk keeps its city upkeep while the sand below it changes with the swell. The same Union-Tribune report says much of the beach between Tamarack and Pine has eroded down to cobblestones at the base of the wall, and that the beaches are "the narrowest they've been in years." At the commission meeting, fourth-generation Carlsbad resident Amber Martinez told commissioners, "People need to know more about what the state and city are doing about it."

What the City Is Building on Its Own Schedule

Carlsbad Boulevard and the structures along it belong to the city, and that's where most of this fall's other construction is.

The beach stairs. The city is replacing the four stairways along Carlsbad Boulevard between Hemlock and Pine avenues and widening the sidewalk between Cherry and Pine. The concrete went in during the 1980s, and in places it has chipped away to expose rebar. The new stairs and sidewalk are built to last about 50 years. Between Pine and Cherry, the sidewalk gains 2½ feet.

The schedule has two phases, November 2025 to spring 2026 and then fall 2026 to spring 2027, with no work between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Crews work weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., except federal holidays. In the work zone, traffic narrows to one lane each way and the speed limit drops to 20 mph.

The south bluff. On Sept. 9, the city declared a local emergency to speed up stabilization of a section of coastal bluff along south Carlsbad Boulevard, just north of the bridge at Las Encinas Creek. A geotechnical report had recommended emergency measures, and the city said it wanted the work done "ahead of potentially strong El Niño conditions." Crews are placing boulders of two to six tons each, using a crane to lower them from the roadside to the beach. Construction is expected to continue through late 2026.

Getting to the Sand Between Now and December

Here's what the city's most recent guidance says about each access point.

• Hemlock Avenue and Cherry Avenue stairs. Closed for replacement.
• Maple Avenue and Sycamore Avenue stairs. Open according to the city's project page, but demolition and construction are scheduled to begin there this fall. The city plans to close only one or two stairways at a time.
• Pine Avenue ramp. Listed by the city as open.
• Tamarack ramp. The city's stairs project page lists it as open, but the city's Oct. 16 update says State Parks has fenced the Tamarack property to pedestrians. Check where the fence line runs before counting on it.
• West-side sidewalk on Carlsbad Boulevard. Sections close at times during stair work. The city directs walkers to the lower seawall or the east-side sidewalk.
• Southbound bike lane, Solamar Drive to Island Way. Temporarily closed during the bluff work. The city asks drivers to allow extra time, slow down and share the road with bicyclists.

On the State Parks website, the Carlsbad State Beach page lists the park as "Open with restrictions in services and/or facilities." The city's construction updates page and its stairs project page are the places to watch for changes on the boulevard.

The Village's Busiest Week Overlaps the Construction

Some of the Village's biggest days of the season fall while this work is underway. On Saturday, Oct. 31, Halloween in the Village runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It includes Village-wide trick-or-treating and a costume contest at Village Faire, 300 Carlsbad Village Drive. Inland, the city's free Día de los Muertos gathering at Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park, 6200 Flying Leo Carrillo Lane, runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that same day. The ranch keeps its decorations up through Nov. 2.

The next morning, Sunday, Nov. 1, the Carlsbad Village Street Faire runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Chamber lists 900 booths and a free shuttle, and notes there will be no bike valet this year. Both weekend days fall outside the stair crews' weekday hours, so the boulevard's lane shifts around the work zone are the main thing to plan around if you're heading toward the water afterward.

If you'd like to talk through how a stretch of Carlsbad's coast fits the way you live, whether that's which stairs you use or what a project on Carlsbad Boulevard means for your street, Gina Riddle and the Riddle Home Team are happy to help. Contact Me.