CARLSBAD -- Workers began pouring concrete Monday for a new sea wall at Terramar beach in southern Carlsbad, to the outrage of some surfers and environmental activists who say the structure could ruin a quiet and picturesque stretch of shoreline that is favored by locals.

When finished, the sea wall will be roughly 95 feet long and vary in height from 23 to 32 feet, according to a permit for the project that states the wall will be made of textured, colored concrete to blend in with ocean bluffs. The structure is designed to buttress a section of coastal bluffs topped by two multimillion-dollar beachfront homes.

Property owner Dean A. Goetz said Monday afternoon that the $500,000 wall is necessary because the section of bluffs that the wall will protect has repeatedly dropped large amounts of sand onto the public beach below.

"The first time it fell, we lost four or five feet by probably about 35 feet long," Goetz said. "If anybody had been down there, I think they would have been killed."

Terramar is a tiny little cove of a beach at the end of a long concrete stairway west of Carlsbad Boulevard and south of Cannon Road.

Goetz said protecting the public from falling sand was the reason he applied for an emergency sea wall permit, which the city of Carlsbad granted June 10.

But local surfer Dustin Rosa said the "true nature of their concern is protecting their backyards, not public safety."

Rosa contacted the San Diego County chapter of the Surfrider Foundation last week after construction of the wall began.

Todd T. Cardiff, an attorney and an adviser to Surfrider, also rejected the safety argument. He noted that the main bluff collapse in the area occurred Dec. 19 and that the problem couldn't have been that urgent if the fixes are just beginning now.

"We are going to do everything we can do to make them take that sea wall out," Cardiff said. "This is one of the most cynical attempts to avoid the public process that I've seen in a long time."

Cardiff questioned the city's decision to allow construction of the homes, completed in 2004 and 2006, so close to the bluff edge in the first place. He said he believes the proper coastal development permits for the homes were not issued.

The attorney also questioned construction techniques that some local surfers observed being used Monday on the beach. In one case, several observers saw what they described as waste concrete being pumped into a hole on the beach for disposal. The proper procedure, Cardiff said, is to have the concrete hauled away.

"It's a violation of the Clean Water Act," Cardiff said, adding that high-tide waves were also washing against construction equipment, another violation, he said.

"You're not supposed to be driving your vehicles into the ocean, because of the contact with oil and grease," he said.

The city inspector overseeing the project could not be reached Monday for comment on Cardiff's allegations.

However, Carlsbad project engineer Steve Bobbett said that the city hired a private geotechnical firm, Geotech Inc., at the property owners' expense, to make sure that all coastal construction regulations were followed and to ensure that safe construction methods were used to prevent harm to the beachgoing public.

"Their experts are on site at all times," Bobbett said.

In the end, property owner Goetz, who has a private law practice in Solana Beach, said he truly is concerned with public safety, not preservation of his backyard.

"I mean, surfers would lean their surfboard up against the part that collapsed all the time," he said. "When this is finished, it will be a place where you can take your kids safely."

Rosa, who has bird-dogged the project since construction began last week, said he believes the sea wall is a complicated and ugly solution to a problem with an easy fix.

"In my mind, it's not necessary," Rosa said. "I think a better solution would be bluff signs that say 'unstable cliffs, stay away.'"

Replied Goetz, "We did put signs up, and fences, and they tore them down."

Call staff writer Paul Sisson at 760-901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.

CORRECTION: Attorney's affiliation misstated

A story that ran in some editions of Tuesday's North County Times misstated the law firm where attorney Todd T. Cardiff works. Cardiff operates his own law office in downtown San Diego.