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

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.

"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.

"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."

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.

"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."

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.