by Bob Ashton
On April 11th, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) has begun mobilizing for the annual dredge of the Oceanside Harbor inlet. The entire dredge cycle is anticipated to last 6 to 8 weeks, with a completion date no later than the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.
The average amount of sand dredged from the inlet and placed onto Oceanside beaches is between 200,000 and 250,000 cubic yards. Oceanside Harbor inlet is dredged annually by the ACOE to ensure vessels can navigate safely in and out of Oceanside Harbor and Camp Pendleton. Throughout the year, the Harbor inlet accumulates sand during storms and south swells. The sand buildup creates a shallow depth in the inlet and breaking waves that can limit navigation.
Safety measures during this operation include a delineated pathway for moving equipment, posted signs, flagmen and a lead vehicle for tractors. No events in the area are permitted during any portion of the dredge cycle. Environmental safety measures are also implemented.
SOS Oceanside is working with the Oceanside City staff to get much of the sand deposited on our extremely depleted beaches South of the Oceanside pier with an objective to get the sand well South of Tyson and Wisconsin Streets. For years getting sand deposited South of the pier was not allowed due to the grunion run. The city has approved an additional $600K to fund additional dredged sand to put on our beaches. City officials said that we wouldn’t know if we will get that additional sand until the company and the US Army Corps have their project meetings.
Please use caution on the beach in and around the pipe and vehicles.
A Case for Oceanside
by Matt Caulfield
The Oceanside Sand Replenishment and retention Plan came under attack by our neighbors before the “baby was out of the cradle.” First, Carlsbad, followed in lockstep by Del Mar, Encinitas and Solana Beach voted to oppose the plan. Deputy Mayor Ryan Keim did his best to stem the tide and pleaded for consideration of the plan on its merits, as did many of SOS members and others. It fell on deaf ears, as it was obvious council members’ minds had been made up before discussions began.
The bright spot in all of this was the incredible effectiveness of the SOS alert notification system. In addition to postings on social media our call to action resulted in hundreds of letters to the Carlsbad, Del Mar and Encinitas council members. Many of the letters were backed-up with personal call-in testimony during the council meetings. The articulate and knowledge-based communications of our members stood out in stark contrast to the emotional, unevidenced rantings of the Surfriders Association and the usual few naysayers from Oceanside. What was disappointing and hard to believe was that Mayor Sanchez called in to the Carlsbad Council to oppose, yes oppose, her own city’s plan.
Believing they were placing the “final nail in the coffin”, our neighbors in Carlsbad, Encinitas, and Del Mar announced that their opposition resolutions would be forwarded to the Coastal Commission. It appeared to be a foregone conclusion that the Coastal Commission would be allied in opposition.
Our neighbors may be in for a surprise. What the city councils missed in their refusal to consider the plan’s merits is that the Oceanside plan substantially increases public beach access. It is the fundamental goal of the coastal commission. Any reading of the Coastal Act would conclude the Coastal Commission will support and encourage the Oceanside plan, which would increase public beach access significantly more than any alternative and certainly more than the status quo.
The Coastal Commission should know that the catastrophic loss of sand in Oceanside has dramatically reduced public beach access. The status quo, which denies public access to over half of the shoreline, is not an option for a government agency tasked with maximizing public beach access. Oceanside is the only regional city that has funded a positive plan to solve the problem of sand erosion. The other cities are quick to oppose Oceanside’s plan but offer nothing in its place. Instead, the rush to judgment resulted in the myotic focus on the retention aspect of the plan taken out of context and an unproven assumption that groins would block the downdrift of sand. That notion ignores the sand replenishment part of the plan and oceanographic science that strongly suggests that sand nourishment with sand retention can maintain wider beaches without negative downdrift impact.
Improvement to the Oceanside shoreline would increase public access more than any potential effects to neighboring cities. Oceanside has almost three times the number of people per mile beach as Carlsbad; four- and one-half times Encinitas; twenty-seven times Del Mar; and six times Solana Beach. No other city has a transit center with adjacent parking, walking distance to the beach. It makes Oceanside accessible to more inland residents, particularly those from underserved communities, than any other city.
The California Resiliency Partnership (CRP) recognizes the importance and impact of Oceanside. It has selected Oceanside as a scalable model to address shoreline erosion across the US and worldwide. Oceanside is featured in several of its high-quality videos.
Lastly, coming out of the publicity associated with the neighboring cities, criticism of the Oceanside plan is the refocus of SANDAG on sand replenishment. Thanks to Deputy Mayor Keim, the subject was discussed in the recent Shoreline Preservation Committee with a focus on a follow-on to SANDAG’s 2002 and 2012 sand replenishment projects. The committee agreed to a special meeting in April to specifically address the issue.
SOSOCEANSIDE.COM
