I’ve been down there a couple of times in the past 5 years and saw the newer, larger apt/condo complexes on the beach. However, I have never seen the newer building in TG’s link. The Navy already has a lot more enlisted housing on the Strand than it used to. It remodeled its old enlisted duplexes about 20 years ago and later added multifamily buildings (8 units to a bldg, I think) all surrounding Strand Elementary, which is within the (preferable) CUSD. Yes, there ARE Navy personnel and their families living in IB, but the rent on those beachfront condos exceeds their typical $2000-2200 month housing allowance so they are usually found living a few blocks inland. In addition, they get all utilities paid in military housing except for cable or satellite TV, internet and landline phone (if desired). This makes the (now behemoth) Strand military housing complex even more attractive to enlisted Navy personnel and their families stationed on Coronado, even if they have to sign a 6-month lease somewhere else upon arrival in SD and get on the waiting list for it.
The SEALS infrastructure just above IB (in/near the swamp where the transmitter was demolished a few years back) won’t be completed for several more years. Then it will take another couple of years to fully staff it with trained personnel.
There are much more “bucolic” places in CA than the IB area which I have had to outright reject for retirement purposes (ex: Lake and Colusa Counties) due to (very legitimate) concerns I had about the existing physical environment there. I learned that these counties were “relatively affordable” for good reasons.
I wouldn’t move anywhere that had unfixable environmental problems which could impact my health and well being but that is just me. SD County has a lot to offer and the OP has many choices on where to conduct their search for a home assuming (s)he doesn’t need or care to “shop” public school attendance areas.
