Clean-up crews were back at Pirate’s Cove on Tuesday as efforts to restore the area and turn it into a County Park Natural Area continue.
Just a couple of weeks ago, San Luis Obispo County Parks and Recreation began by clearing the parking lot area at Cave Landing of several homeless encampments.
Contractors hired by the county are now working hard to remove the graffiti off the rocks around Pirate's Cove.
"So graffiti is throughout all of the rocks, throughout the entire site, and it really is an eyesore for people on boats, for people hiking down,” said San Luis Obispo County Parks Director Nick Franco.
JG Contracting workers are going in with a pressure washer and other tools to remove the graffiti.
"People start covering it up, covering it up, and it just adds more and more, you know. We are washing it off and we are finding graffiti that was there once before,” explained worker Dennis Hiracheta.
According to Franco, some of the tagged spots aren't easily accessible.
"There are certain areas that are rather inaccessible that are kind of down by the water that we may not be able to get to and then the one area we are not removing it intentionally is from the inside of the cave itself,” Franco said.
He adds that the cave is a Native American site and they do not want to damage any cultural resources.
A three-phased project to beautify and restore the area will cost approximately half a million dollars, according to Franco.
"I'm hoping that people that have been here before come and say, 'man, it looks so much better,' and I'm hoping people who have never been here come here and say, 'man, what a beautiful spot,'” Franco said.
They plan on finishing this first phase in a couple of weeks. The second phase will be improving the parking lot, adding trash cans and accessible parking spots.
San Luis Obispo County Parks and Rec says the third phase will be maintenance to ensure the work that was done is kept up.
They expect to finish the work in September or by the latest, this coming December.
