Pacifica Sinkhole Will Take Weeks to Repair, Officials Say

PACIFICA, CA – A massive sinkhole that opened up in Pacifica this week has forced the closure of a popular cliffside beach access trail – a closure that is expected to now last a couple of weeks.

The property is the responsibility of the owners of an apartment complex called Oceanaire Apartment Homes on Esplanade Avenue. But though the trail is on private land, it provides access to a public beach.

The owners, Irvine-based Trinity Property Consultants, maintain the trail and public access to the beach under an agreement with the city, Trinity vice president David Seiler said.

The sinkhole appears to have opened up after a compression joint separated on a large pipe that runs under the trail, Seiler said.

That pipe is apparently owned by the city, according to CBS SF Bay Area News. The city, though, says that they are not involved in the repairs since the pathway is on private land, the news station reports.

The sinkhole is near the site of an apartment complex at 320 Esplanade Ave. that was demolished in March because of massive cliffside erosion that threatened to pull the building into the ocean.

Oceanaire Apartment Homes was renamed just a few months ago. It was previously called Land's End Apartments, Seiler said.

– Patch file photo by Renee Schiavone / Bay City News Service contributed to this report.