01 • 13 • 2016
Oceanside Beach Fill Modified to Meet Coastal Preservation Standards
The San Diego Chapter worked with the City of Oceanside and the Coastal Commission to make an Oceanside Opportunistic Beach Nourishment program meet coastal preservation standards.
At the January 13, 2016 Coastal Commission hearing, Julia Chunn-Heer, Policy Manager for Surfrider's San Diego chapter, attended in support of an “Opportunistic Beach Nourishment” program taking place in Oceanside and against a proposal for the installation of “erodible” concrete in front of the Solana Beach Tennis Club.
San Diego chapter volunteers worked with the City of Oceanside and Coastal Commission staff for months on the Oceanside program, focusing on the negative impacts to surfing in the region following the larger beach nourishment project of RBSP II, proper surf monitoring, and correcting language that asserted impacts to surf in the past and future were likely to be positive. The chapter successfully advocated that the city place sand in two sites instead of one to help reduce impacts and that they increase surf monitoring pre- and post-project using the methodology from the chapter's surf monitoring study. During the week leading up to the hearing, the chapter was still in discussions, but ultimately the City agreed to all of the chapter's demands, the language in the permit regarding surf impacts was corrected and the item was moved to the consent calendar; a win-win for all parties.
Surfrider’s Letter re the Oceanside beach nourishment (see page 5)