Project to stabilize a hillside of the Presidio overlooking Lighthouse Avenue moves forward.

Standing near the statue of the Spanish missionary Junipero Serra in Lower Presidio Historic Park, overlooking the expansive Monterey Bay, it’s easy to understand why so many different groups of people have gathered on the scenic bluff over the span of thousands of years.

The roughly 25-acre park, maintained by the City of Monterey through a 50-year lease with the U.S. Army, is bordered on its eastern side by a bluff, which has been spilling soil onto the sidewalk along Lighthouse Avenue at the base of the slope, partially due to burrowing gophers and ground squirrels. And with thousands of years of archeological artifacts buried in the soil, every so often, some spill over the bluff onto the sidewalk along with the dirt.

In 2021, the Army requested that the City of Monterey stabilize the hillside with a retaining wall. The project stalled due to multiple factors but is now moving forward with the aid of federal funds. According to Assistant City Manager Nat Rojanasathira, no city funds are anticipated to be used for the project.

An environmental assessment and impact report was released on Feb. 5 for the stabilization project, with a deadline of March 5 to submit comments. The assessment states that the Army “received a Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program grant for compliance and design efforts that will provide funding to support the needed site stabilization and protection of cultural and tribal resources.”

The environmental assessment outlines three alternative strategies to stabilize the hillside. The first option in the report calls for the installation of a 3- to 4-foot-tall, approximately 250-foot-long retaining wall along the slope and over the Lighthouse Avenue sidewalk. The report states that portions of the sidewalk may need to be removed and replaced and portions of the sidewalk would be temporarily closed, alongside potential partial closures of Lighthouse Avenue during the installation process.

The report also mentions that the City of Monterey recently installed a temporary wooden retaining wall on the portion of the slope within city property. On March 3, the Monterey City Council agreed to send a letter to the Army expressing the City’s preference for the small retaining wall option.

“We recommended the project that was similar to what the City of Monterey installed along the Lighthouse curve,” Monterey Library and Museums Director Brian Edwards says. “The City believes that adding the fence along with the additional slope stabilization and erosion control measure will be beneficial for long-term management of cultural resources.”

In the second alternative, the Army would install a taller wall, up to 8 feet high, along the Lighthouse Avenue sidewalk. The third option does not include a retaining wall and would instead use living materials and possibly include geofabrics, soil nailing, vegetation and spray-applied additives for soil erosion control.