Pacifica family must demolish home because of cliff erosion

PACIFICA, Calif. - Demolition crews will begin work Thursday morning to tear down a home in Pacifica that's in danger of falling down a cliff and into the ocean. 

Melissa McConnell, the former owner of this home actually sold the property to the city of Pacifica so that it could be demolished. In 2015 during the winter storms, about 20 feet of their backyard washed away into the ocean. The cliff their house sits on Esplanade Avenue has been eroding ever since.

The owners, who have lived here for seven years, picked the house up in April 2016 and moved it about 20 feet closer to the sidewalk. But erosion continued to be a problem. And now the house will be torn down.

“I have a million emotions,” McConnell said. “It’s been a long road. It's been a long wait. It's been a lot of highs and lows. We had a lot of hope when we moved in.” 

Just in the past five years at least two multi-unit apartment buildings on Esplanade avenue - about a half mile away from this home - had to be demolished because the cliff below them was washing away.