Heisler Park renovations improve safety

As soon as summer’s end was around the corner, the city began gearing up for major renovations to Heisler Park.

The $5 million project started in September and aims not to make aesthetic improvements, but to make the park more functional.

“In general the park’s going to look very similar to how it looked before,” said project manager Wade Brown. “But functionally it will be much better.”

New stairs will be installed to Rockpile Beach, where the current structures are no longer safe.

“The existing stairs are undermined by erosion,” Brown said.

The project will put Rockpile’s staircase firmly in bedrock, making the trek to the beach safer.

Rockpile and Picnic Beaches will both see upgrades to their restroom facilities. A temporary restroom trailer has been moved from the Act V parking lot on Laguna Canyon Road and now sits at Heisler.

The restroom buildings at both places were demolished and new facilities will rise in their place.

The restrooms will be part of an entirely new water system that will be installed. Improvements to water and drainage systems across the park will cut down on water usage and keep water from flowing into the ocean.

Brown says the drainage system is especially significant. It will better control the park’s watershed, a major concern because of how close it is to protected marine environments.

“Before, the water pretty much just sheet-flowed over the bluffs,” Brown said.

The park is being lined with new pathways designed to be accessible to all abilities. They will have shallow inclines and meet all California accessibility laws.

There will also be more ground lighting to highlight the pathways.

Brown says they hope the project will be done around June 2008, just in the nick of time for the next wave of summer.