Workshop produces no beach plan
By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | ∞
SAN DIEGO ---- The region's city and county officials Friday reiterated their strong preference for a campaign to beef up thinning beaches, emphasizing the coastline's prominent role in the San Diego County economy.
At the same time, the 21-member San Diego Association of Governments board left for another day the difficult problem of figuring out how to finance such a campaign.
The agency is hoping to duplicate its 2001 project that spread enough sand on a dozen beaches from Oceanside to Imperial Beach to fill Qualcomm Stadium. The wide beaches that resulted from that $17.5 million effort have since been eaten away.
"We got a lot of sand six years ago and, as I understand it, about 5 percent is left," said Oceanside Councilwoman Esther Sanchez, in an address to the board.
The agency estimates it would cost about $25 million for a similar project.
Kim Sterrett, manager of beach restoration for the California Department of Boating and Waterways, said the state could help fund the project, but only if the San Diego region is willing to put up a substantial amount of money.
"I would love to tell you, 'I'm from the state government and I'm going to solve all your beach erosion problems,' " Sterrett said. "But that's just not in the stars."
Sterrett was one of two beach restoration experts brought in to frame the two-hour-long workshop. The other was Reinhard Flick, a researcher at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Flick said North County's beaches are narrower than those in other areas because they take the full brunt of Pacific waves. Santa Catalina Island shelters Orange County and Los Angeles but not North County, he said.
Most urban North County beaches are well away from the few remaining natural sources of sand, such as the San Onofre and Torrey Pines bluffs and free-flowing rivers on Camp Pendleton, Flick said.
A well-funded restoration program could offset those factors, he said.
But climate change presents a new threat.
Over the last century, the ocean along California's coast rose about eight inches, Flick said. If global warming increases the rate to a foot and a half per century, the region won't be able to keep sand on the beaches, he said.
That concern notwithstanding, some officials suggested some kind of regional fee be instituted. Officials pointed to Solana Beach's and Encinitas' decisions to increase their hotel taxes to fund beach restoration as examples of what could be done regionally.
County Supervisor Ron Roberts said he was disappointed no one came prepared to discuss specific projects or the drawbacks of sand replenishment efforts.
"I sort of feel like the cheerleaders are here," Roberts said. "I was just assuming that this was going to be more comprehensive."
The board plans to revisit the subject in the fall.
Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.
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kit wrote on Jun 9, 2007 8:31 AM:MoreSanchez grandstanding. When she was delegate to SANDAG she didn't show, now she shows when we already have a delegate.
MIKE THE MARINE..... wrote on Jun 9, 2007 11:44 AM:With Sanchez attending SANDAG we are doomed....SANDAG will cut-off any chance of Oceanside getting any SAND!!
Congressmen? wrote on Jun 9, 2007 12:07 PM:Why does Florida and New Jersey get money regularly for beach restoration and California get nothing? Where are our Senators and Congressmen... since Californian's already pay more in Federal taxes per person than the rest of the nation I think we should get priority for Federal funds for beach restoration!
jack wrote on Jun 9, 2007 12:09 PM:Tell the of beaches to stop doing everything humanly possible to prevent sand from getting to our beaches! They approve small bridges and train tracks that block sand that gets to sea level from getting to the ocean beaches and this destroys the lagoons. They build dams on all the streams that capture sand as well as water. They build jetties that deflect litoral drift of sand into deep water. And they armor old beaches (cliffs) from making new beaches.
Let the rivers flow, pump bypass O-Side Harbor wrote on Jun 9, 2007 1:00 PM:The main reason North County is devoid of sand is that construction has blocked the natural processes that replenish it. Pacific St. (mouth of the San Luis Rey in O-Side), Highway 101, The Railway, and the 5 block the rivers and lagoons, and Oceanside Harbor/Del Mar boat basin block the littoral movement southwards. The entities that caused the problem, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Caltrans, and AT&SF railroad, should pay to fix it. Build causeways and bridges across the lagoons instead of damming them with berms, and pump the sand that piles up on Del Mar beach (the one on Pendleton) around Oceanside harbor/Del Mar basin. With the basic natural processes restored, our need for sand replenishment will be reduced, or cease to exist at all. An added bonus will be less traffic due to slow trucks climbing hills, and better fuel economy for cars, trucks and trains that don't have to repeatedly drop into a lagoon and climb back up to the next mesa.
Florida & New Jersey?? wrote on Jun 9, 2007 10:27 PM:What does the east coast have to do with the west coast? Bottom line, Oceanside needs the sand, and its probably close to an impossibility that the Feds are going to pony up. Oceanside needs to join with the other cities in the county to come up with a regional solution. Period. BTW -- the council appointed Sanchez to the Shoreline Preservation Committee, so she was doing her job. Thankfully!
Put the blame where its due wrote on Jun 9, 2007 10:31 PM:The only reps the City of Oceanside has had is Feller, for like 4 years, Mackin, for one year, and the mayor, for like 6 months. If the city of Oceanside has not done well at SANDAG, blame these guys. Sanchez is not the SANDAG rep, and got "authority" from the whole council to do a presentation at the policy board meeting. None of the "reps" ever talked about what they were going to do. Maybe Sanchez should be the SANDAG rep--Oceanside would get more of its fair share of the regional dollars!
The answer is People, Politics, and Proximity wrote on Jun 10, 2007 10:16 AM:California may be the most populous state in the union, but we are pretty irrelevant in Washington for several reasons: 1: We are far away: out of sight, out of mind. 2: Nancy Pelosi notwithstanding (in fact largely because our delegation is so one sided and on the far left), no-one really sees much reason to buy votes here. California is taken for granted as a Democrat voting state. 3: The Tri-State area of CT, NY, NJ, and it's playground in Florida, gets 8 senators to our 2, and has more than twice the population, so they get 2x our congressional delegation. 4: Those states are more in play, and their politicians more practical, whereas our gerrymandered districts, and the resulting extremism of our representatives of both parties means that a: There's no reason for either party to try to win more seats here and b: our delegation can't work together for the good of the state. The result is that we send far more than total federal expenditures in the state (all spending, including military) to the federal government in taxes. And everyone voted the way the parties told them to, and against impartial redistricting, which wold have given us a prayer of fixing the mess we are in.
Sandchez Says wrote on Jun 11, 2007 12:08 AM:"We got a lot of sand six years ago and, as I understand it, about 5 percent is left," said Oceanside Councilwoman Esther Sanchez. Council Member we got you about six years ago, so it is understandable not everything work out for the best. What's driving you on this issue, did you move to the beach?
Sparkplug wrote on Jun 11, 2007 8:22 AM:I like the cobblestone beaches! Why bury them with unindigenous sand? This is so touchy-feely. Do we really make our decisions ($$$$) based on our bare feet?
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