The relatives of three women killed in a 2019 bluff collapse at Grandview Beach have reached a settlement totaling more than $32 million with the state, the city of Encinitas and coastal property owners. In addition to a $32.85 million payment and “an additional confidential monetary amount,” the settlement agreement contains a requirement that Encinitas increase public awareness about the risks of bluff collapses. The education campaign will include new signage, videos and additional training for beach lifeguards, the Davis family’s attorney said. “We want to be clear that we do not view this as a win,” attorney Bibianne Fell wrote in a prepared statement Thursday. “We view this as the beginning of a multi-front effort to raise public awareness about the hidden dangers of bluff collapse. We will call it a ‘win’ when these efforts to raise awareness prevent any future tragedies.” The women — Julie Davis, Anne Clave and Elizabeth Cox — were attending a large family gathering at Leucadia’s Grandview Beach in early August 2019 when a huge chunk of the sandy bluff above them fell onto the beach and killed them. Moments before the landslide, the family’s many grandchildren were gathered around a cooler just behind the three women’s chairs. If the children had stayed there a few minutes longer, they too would have died, Encinitas pediatric dentist Pat Davis told the City Council several weeks after the 2019 tragedy. Davis lost his wife, daughter and his wife’s sister in the bluff collapse. “I do not want what happened to my beautiful family to ever happen again,” he told the City Council. He added that he had been told that the best way to heal from this tragedy was to find a sense of purpose and, for him, that purpose would be advocating for beach safety projects. In its press release announcing the new settlement agreement Wednesday, the city of Encinitas wrote that it would be responsible for paying $13.3 million of the total settlement’s cost. By that evening, rumors were already circulating online that the city was going use revenue from a Nov. 5 sales tax ballot measure to cover its new $13.3 million expense, one audience member said at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. That’s not true, city risk manager Jace Schwarm responded. Encinitas has regular insurance and excess insurance, and the excess insurance carrier will be covering this cost, she stressed. The city’s settlement press release said the new bluff safety education campaign will include “enhanced” signage with QR codes that allow beach-goers to view a video about “the dangers of being too close to bluff faces.” The Davis family attorney’s press release states that the lawsuit contains information about the area’s long history of bluff collapses, and mentions that there have been expert warnings about bluff instability dating back to 1983. “Since the 1980s, factors including improper stormwater management, proliferation of non-native ice plant, and climate change have exacerbated the risks associated with the bluffs,” it states.