Two local yoga instructors are seeking to overturn a City policy banning beachfront yoga classes at popular spots like Sunset Cliffs and Pacific Beach.
Attorney Bryan W. Pease filed a lawsuit on Jan. 29 in San Diego Superior Court on behalf of Steven Hubbard and Amy Baack.
“Plaintiffs are yoga instructors who have taught free and optional donation-based yoga classes in City parks for many years,” states the lawsuit. “Baack stopped teaching these outdoor classes in May 2024 as a result of being threatened by park rangers with citations and ultimately moved out of San Diego in part due to this infringement on her civil liberties.
Hubbard has stopped teaching outdoor classes due to being issued such citations, and instead now streams them live on YouTube from his home.”
The City has acknowledged its responsibility “to ensure equitable and safe access to parks, bays, and beaches for all users at all times.” The City notes the Municipal Code prohibits groups consisting of four or more people engaged in commercial recreational activities like yoga, fitness classes, and dog training from gathering in parks without a permit. Those activities can only operate in certain designated areas.
The City points out that the applicable municipal code (SDMC 63.0102), has been in effect since 1993. Recent updates to that code, according to the City, have clarified the activities for which necessary permitting applies. The City noted those updates specify that it is unlawful to require someone to negotiate, establish, or pay a fee before providing a service, even if characterized as a donation.
The City said these municipal code updates are in place to ensure public spaces remain safe and accessible to all users at all times. Park Rangers, police officers, and City lifeguards are authorized to enforce municipal codes pertaining to beach activities ensuring public safety in San Diego’s parks and beaches.
“Unless the court enjoins the City from including the term ‘yoga” within its definition of “services” in SDMC §63.0102, and the act of ‘teaching yoga’ as an exception to protected ‘expressive activity’ in SDMC §63.0502, plaintiffs will continue to be irreparably harmed by the violation of their rights under the California Constitution to teach free or donation-based yoga classes in a public forum,” reads the yoga beach-ban lawsuit.
“The City does not have a compelling interest in banning the free teaching of yoga in City parks. While the City claims a permit can be obtained for engaging in such activity, in practice the City refuses to issue any permits for this activity in any City park except Mission Bay Park, Balboa Park, and Liberty Station,” according to the lawsuit.
Pease argued the beach yoga ban is one of many recent missteps by the local government. “The City seems to be doing everything possible to make quality of life worse along the coast,” he said. “That includes allowing massive vacation-rental loopholes, pollution of the San Diego River and stormwater drains flowing to the ocean, illegal fishing on the cliffs leading to lines being left for wildlife to strangle, and irritating and destructive SeaWorld fireworks. Instead of addressing these problems, now the City is banning community gatherings in public parks to practice yoga outdoors, which is an unconstitutional infringement on speech and assembly.”
Two local Peninsula community leaders, speaking for themselves and not their groups, had differing takes on the City’s yoga beach ban.
“Free yoga classes on the beach are something that makes San Diego very special,” said Beth Roach, a Peninsula Realtor with Willis Allen Real Estate, who is the Point Loma Association chair. “I attended the donation-based class at the foot of Law Street in Pacific Beach for years and was very sad when all the beachfront yoga was shut down. So many people got to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of these classes. The City allows fitness permits at certain parks, and sand volleyball at the beach, Why not yoga classes at the beach?”
Denny Knox, executive director of Ocean Beach MainStreet Association, noted the business improvement district has not discussed the beach yoga issue nor taken a position on it. But she feels, personally, that the City “has to have some control over businesses that operate in public spaces, otherwise, I’m afraid our beaches would be packed with businesses ‘working’ the beach crowd day in and day out. I know some of the yoga or exercise classes would like free use of the cliffs and beaches and have changed their business model to be donation-based to get around the business aspect. But that is toying with rules.
“I believe there are some areas of parks where this is allowed because they have more parking and accommodations for larger crowds,” continued Knox noting, “The cliffs are pretty sensitive to uses and the area is very small. When the City doesn’t enforce rules, we have seen what a mess that becomes in the long run. I understand why the City needs to have rules in place.”
David Dick, an attorney and Point Loma resident, concurred that there needs to be rules for activities on City land. “I don’t know why yoga classes on City property would be any different than any other private organized activity on City property,” he said. “Any such activity, regardless of whether conducted for compensation/profit, or for which fees are charged, even by a non-profit, should require a permit and proof of insurance. The City should charge appropriate temporary use fees which should be scaled to account for the intensity of use, and to recover direct and indirect costs the City might incur.”
Photo by Thomas Melville
