By Maya Meinert
Special to the Daily Press

VENICE — Members of the Pacific Jewish Center are ready to walk the line, and their support is growing.

A new, rewritten California Coastal Commission staff report recommends the approval, with conditions, of the Pacific Jewish Center’s request to install an eruv along the beach from Santa Monica to Marina del Rey.

An eruv creates a symbolic area that can be considered part of an Orthodox Jew’s home. Within an eruv, Orthodox Jews may carry their keys and push their children in strollers while walking to synagogue on the Sabbath. Without such a symbolic area, their ability to function outside their homes is limited.

Today, a Coastal Commission hearing will be held to formally determine the fate of the eruv. If the commission’s report is any indication, the request will gain approval.

The eruv will be created using fishing line attached to 20-foot-high metal pole extenders to Los Angeles County information signs located along the beach. The line will start in Santa Monica at Seaside Way and run between existing street lights to Catamaran Street in Venice. The line will then run between the pole extenders on Ocean Front Walk, from Catamaran Street to Topsail Street in Venice, then between existing light poles to Via Marina in Venice. The line will connect to existing fences and walls at both ends, completing the enclosure.

The conditions placed on the installation of the eruv by the California Coastal Commission report include attaching streamers to the fishing line between Hurricane Street and Via Marina in Venice — the nesting area of the least tern, an endangered species of bird. The streamers are supposed to make the line more visible for the birds so that they do not hurt themselves by flying into it. The Pacific Jewish Center must also paint the metal poles to minimize their visibility; monitor and replace any fallen lines or poles within 24 hours; provide a 24-hour contact number to city, county and coastal staffs; and post the number on Los Angeles County information signs.

The recommendation for approval of the project is limited to three years, but the Jewish Center may ask for a subsequent extension.

Also, it is stipulated that if the California Department of Fish and Game determines that the line is harming birds, the Jewish Center must remove the installation.

Similar eruvin are already located throughout Southern California, including one that encompasses much of the Westside.

The Coastal Commission staff had initially rejected the request to install an eruv because of the potential impact on public access and public views of the beach. The new report states that the Jewish Center “presented persuasive evidence that impacts on public access and public views can be reduced to a level of insignificance such that the project should not be inconsistent with the Coastal Act policies protecting these resources.”

Craig Perkins, director of Environmental and Public Works Management for Santa Monica, walked the eruv route in Santa Monica and saw no hurdles to overcome regarding the installation. According to the commission’s report, the City of Santa Monica, in a letter of non-opposition, the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors have all given the project a green light.

“The rewritten staff recommendation for approval with conditions is very fair,” said Rabbi Benjamin Geiger of the Pacific Jewish Center. “(The Coastal Commission) worked with us to find solutions for all their concerns.”

news@smdp.com

Staff Writer Kevin Herrera contributed to the reporting of this article.