Under a cloudless sky and in 70-degree heat, Sunset resident Garrett Kelly busted out his surfboard Monday and dove into the cool Ocean Beach water.

But the much-anticipated weather that brought streams of runners and bikers to Sunset Dunes didn’t change his opinion about the Great Highway being closed to cars. 

“Absolutely hate it,” said Kelly. “Why do you need to walk on concrete? Get your feet sandy.”

Kelly’s neighbors could soon get their revenge. Supervisor Joel Engardio faces a recall election Tuesday over his support for the Great Highway’s closure in a backlash to his urbanist policies, and election data shows he could be in trouble. 

Engardio’s potential ouster may be just the first step in a political coup de grâce. Recall organizers say they are scheming about how to repeal Proposition K, the controversial ballot measure that sealed off the Great Highway in November for its conversion to Sunset Dunes. Proponents of the repeal are in the discussion phase — they first have to win the recall — and many hurdles await. 

“I think there is a lot of hope and expectation to get it on the ballot,” said Jamie Hughes, who is leading the Engardio recall effort. “Either way, it is a tough fight.”

That hasn’t stopped some from dreaming of cars, once again, whizzing by on the sandy roads — with pedestrians shunted to the sidewalks.

“A hundred percent,” said Kelly of his support for repealing Prop. K. “I think it’s just a land grab. … It’s the first step to privatization of public space.”

A stone’s throw from the beach, Megan Finn sat on a Lyft bike along the Great Highway. Finn brings her son to the pathway daily to ride his bike or skateboard. But she’s not convinced it’s worth closing the road to cars.

“I love this,” she said as she balanced on her bicycle. “But I still don’t understand why they did this.”

A large swath of Sunset residents — 64% — voted against Prop. K in November. The measure passed citywide by 55% —  a meager margin that gave anti-Engardio forces political energy to receive enough recall signatures by March. 

Along the car-free road Monday, the controversy was too much for some to weigh in. Many park-goers declined to comment, grimacing at the thought of speaking publicly about such a hot topic. Some said they feared what their friends would say. Others saw the recall effort in another light: as anti-democratic.

Laurence Delisle is one of those people. On Monday, just a day after coming home from the hospital after giving birth, she sat on one of the Sunset Dunes benches reading. Before the road’s closure, she used it to drive down to the South Bay daily. The detour has added only two minutes to her commute. 

“Sunset Dunes is the best thing that has happened to this neighborhood,” said Delisle. “I think Joel has done amazing things for this neighborhood. A recall should be reserved for someone who has done egregious acts. I don’t think Joel qualifies for that.”

She said she would be “devastated” if cars returned to the walkway.

Others are more cynical about the whole thing.

“I would think it’s dumb,” Renee LaRose said of a potential Prop. K repeal. “But I think a lot of San Francisco politics is kind of dumb.”