Oceanside excluded one of the three small sites originally offered to restore sand dunes and native plants to the beaches between the port of the city and the municipal pier.
The area in front of Roberts Cottages, a dozen small cabins built in 1928 along the strand as a car car, was abandoned after the residents complained that the catering would ruin their views and limit access to the ocean.
“The project team is trying to determine a new location to restore the dunes along North Stand Beach, amounting to 0.07 acre … or (approximately) 3,000 square feet,” Jayme Timberlake said on Tuesday the administrator of the city’s coastal area. “We will probably target areas that offer advantages to public resources such as access to the beach, picnic tables, pedestrian paths.”
The city accepted a state subsidy of $ 56,000 in December 2023 for a pilot project on three separate sites to preserve sand, create a wildlife habitat and protect parking lots and structures nearby.
The areas best suited to the restoration of the dunes are places where the beach is the widest and the dry sand will allow dunes to grow naturally using the restoration techniques offered, said Timberlake.
The oceanid beaches were larger and bordered by dunes before the construction of the Pandleton camp basin in 1942, then the port of the city built in the 1960s. These facilities and their long rocky jets stopped the natural migration of the sand south.
The largest of the three sites offered for the dunes is closest to the port, a half-act by the parking lot of the north pier. The dunes would replace Riprap and K-rail in plastic installed by the city to keep the waves and sand off the paved terrain.
The other area still envisaged for the dunes is at the large sandy mouth of the San Luis Rey River. This site needs less modifications, probably just a fence or sandwood issues and the wooden platform and a barrier to prevent pedestrians and cyclists.
Timberlake presented an update on the project on Monday at a meeting of the City Port and Port Consultative Committee, where certain members were skeptical about the proposal.
“This does not correspond to Harbor Beach at all,” said Carolyn Krammer, a member of the committee. “Even in the middle of winter, it is the most used beach of the whole county of North … I do not see to abandon a square of beach and to remove access to plants, compared to people who have Desperately need a beach to recreate. “
The dunes and plants would occupy approximately half an acre now taken up by plastic rocks and barriers, leaving the remaining 18.5 acres of the open beach, said Timberlake.
“All the advantages of Harbor Beach are still there,” she said. “You can still go down to homes. You can always go to the sunset. You can absolutely surf and participate in surf competitions. Everything is still there.
Ernie PERIETO, member of the committee, supported the project.
“What is lost here is that it is a natural attempt to keep the sand,” said Prieto. “This is what it is. There are other ways, of course. K-rails work. I think we are trying to get rid of the idea of having plastic k-rails on the beach. »»
Another commissioner said that people might feel better if the project had clearer objectives, such as specific measures for the amount of sand preserved.
Timberlake said the objectives are defined with vague because the project is an affordable and easily implemented solution that could be extended if people like the results.
Several public speakers have supported the project.
“Let us give it,” said Mitch Silverstein, an Oceanside resident and director of policies of the Surfrider Foundation. “We lose very little and have a lot to win. Give a chance.
Kathleen Steindlberger, a resident of Carlsbad and former member of the city’s beach preservation committee, encouraged the committee to support the project because other coastal communities could learn and benefit from it.
“I understand that you want exact results, you want to make it scientific,” said Steindlberger. “Unfortunately, we cannot predict the storms that will occur next year, we cannot predict the waves … It is not an exact science, like an experience in a laboratory. It is nature. It’s just a different animal.
The next stage of the project is to obtain a coastal development permit from California Coastal Commission, said Timberlake. If it is approved, construction could start next fall.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
