The Sorrento Trail, a waterside walkway along Naples Island, is linked to further seawall repairs in the area.
The project, also known as the Sorrento Alamitos Bay Shoreline Trail, traces back to a 2013 Coastal Commission decision that tied trail construction to the Naples Island Seawall Repair Project. As the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported in 2017, the state Coastal Commission ruled that Long Beach had to reconstruct the trail as mitigation for Naples seawall repairs carried out in the water. That same report noted that the second phase of those seawall repairs was on hold at the time, pending Coastal Commission approval of the trail's design plans.
A City of Long Beach project page states that the Coastal Commission directed the city to begin the trail project and to pursue a local coastal development permit for a public walkway within an existing public right-of-way. That right-of-way runs along the northwest shoreline of Naples Island and is 15 feet wide, according to the seed facts. The Coastal Commission also required that the trail be built in phases coordinated with the seawall repair work, with the stated goal of protecting and enhancing public access to Alamitos Bay while addressing recreational impacts from the seawall improvements.
What the First Segment Would Include
Known as Segment One, the proposed trail would run along Naples Island between 5425 and 5455 Sorrento Drives and extend approximately 425 linear feet.
Further seawall construction is linked to completion of the trail. Existing vertical accessways that connect Sorrento Drive to the shoreline are also part of the layout under discussion.
In June 2017, the Press-Telegram reported that the second phase of seawall repairs was on hold pending Coastal Commission approval of the trail's design plans.
A Long Road From Outreach to Construction
Long Beach began community outreach and site analysis for the trail in 2015, including stakeholder interviews and an open house.
The project is intended to protect and enhance public access to Alamitos Bay.
Seawall Costs Loom Over Tidelands Budget
The trail's progress carries financial stakes beyond Naples Island. LBPOST has described the broader trail effort as a public walkway along the canal at an expected cost of $12 million, and reported that two of the seawall's six sections have already been replaced, while the rest remains in “fair condition,” prone to flooding, with collapse a risk in the event of a major near-source earthquake. A city spokesperson told the outlet that 1,572 parcels sit along the seawalls, including 174 fronting the unrepaired portions.
That same reporting found that the city's Tidelands Operations Fund, which finances this kind of coastal infrastructure work, is expected to decline by $301 million over the next decade, including $21 million by the end of the next fiscal year. With the seawall's next phase waiting on the trail's completion, and the Tidelands fund under mounting pressure, next week's meeting gives Naples Island residents a chance to see how close the long-delayed project is to breaking ground.
