California Coastal Commission aims to restore Carmel beach fire tradition.

The City of Carmel has a dream of neighbors joining neighbors around a fire pit on Carmel Beach, maybe sharing a roasted marshmallow or a beer.

One key detail: There’s no wood or charcoal burning in that dream. Instead, a handful of propane-powered fire pits, not unlike those on restaurant patios, dot the beach and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Another hitch: The California Coastal Commission contends the city’s plan to eliminate traditional wood-burning fires is at odds with the city’s own policies, as well as state policy for coastal access.

Carmel officials have been grappling for years with the best way to address the timeless tradition of beach fires, faced with residents’ complaints about smoky air, charcoal and litter left behind.

Last spring, they proposed fire rings to limit the number of fires. In August, during peak fire season, Council passed a temporary moratorium stopping beach fires on weekends and holidays. Dec. 1, they voted 3-2 to approve an ordinance declaring beach fires a public nuisance, banning them outright.

“It’s a matter of degree,” says Dan Carl, director of the California Coastal Commission’s Central Coast district. “The city has gone from a reasonable approach to 100 miles an hour.”

The contentious policy issue is now out of city hands, and heads to the Coastal Commission Dec. 11. Carl and his staff are recommending commissioners approve a plan that includes fire rings. “It’s the city’s own program we are trying to implement,” Carl says. “It wasn’t so long ago that this is what they were proposing.”

But Mayor Jason Burnett says things changed since then. Monitors showed air quality was even worse than suspected. And neighbors liked the effect of the moratorium. “The community had grown accustomed to smelling smoke,” Burnett says. “Then people came forward and said, ‘We really like our beach experience without smelling smoke.’”