The Great Highway is one step closer to becoming a park. At a hearing Thursday, the California Coastal Commission unanimously approved a permit allowing San Francisco to permanently repurpose the roadway.
Commissioners said the transformation would increase access to the coast and aid with habitat restoration. More than 30 people gave public comment, with a nearly even split between supporters and opponents.
“This park means so much to me that I took time off work and came down here at my own expense,” said Zach Lipton, a volunteer with Friends of Great Highway Park who traveled to Newport Beach to comment in person.
Opponents argued that the road closure would worsen traffic on nearby residential streets and hamper emergency access. “Twenty thousand cars a day use the highway here,” said Tony Villa, a longtime San Francisco resident. “When it is closed, it is absolute gridlock.”
Following the passage of Proposition K in November, the permit is one of the city’s last remaining hurdles to transforming the stretch of road into a permanent space for recreation.
But the issue remains divisive. While voters passed the ballot measure by a 10-point margin, nearly every precinct in the western half of the city voted against the closure. Residents have launched a recall effort against local Supervisor Joel Engardio over his support for the plan.
Even after Prop. K passed, disgruntled neighbors continued to wave “No on K” signs on the Great Highway, including at the measure’s victory party last month.
As anti-park demonstrators tried to hijack the celebration, Lucas Lux, campaign manager for “Yes on K” and president of the advocacy group Friends of Ocean Beach Park, called for unity and said the opponents would come around in time.
“The ocean belongs to everybody, and we should treat it that way,” he told The Standard. Lux added that he has reached out to leaders on the other side about what kind of park they might like to see.
Those leaders, however, are angry and do not want a park. Dressed in a bunny costume at the party, Selena Chu argued passionately that there should have been more community input.
“We just had community input,” one “Yes on K” supporter countered. “That’s what an election is.”
Another “No on K” demonstrator, Vin Budhai, said he had wanted to see the current situation — the road is closed to cars on weekends but open during the week — continue until the end of 2025 so the city could have conducted more analysis, and voters would have made a more informed decision.
Still, despite his frustration, Budhai seemed to accept that the Great Highway will soon be no more.
“It is what it is,” he told a neighbor who came to commiserate. “We fought a really good fight.”