SURFRIDER APPEALS OCEANSIDE’S APPROVAL OF ROCK SEAWALL
Group also argues owners must make up for lost sand
The Surfrider Foundation has filed an appeal with the California Coastal Commission challenging Oceanside’s approval of the restoration of a two-block-long rock revetment that protects beachfront homes along South Pacific Street.
The repairs to the degraded seawall need a coastal development permit from the Coastal Commission, states the appeal filed May 6 by the environmental nonprofit. Also, the property owners should be required to mitigate for beach sand lost because of the revetment, it said.
Coastal Commission staffer Toni Ross raised similar concerns in a Feb. 23 email to the project applicant, Mark Dillon, a South Pacific Street property owner for more than 20 years. Surfrider provided a copy of the email to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
“Coastal staff was only recently made aware of the revetment work proposed at the 900-1000 block of (South) Pacific Street,” Ross said in the email. “We had two initial concerns, the first being that a portion of the proposed development likely falls within the commission’s original permit jurisdiction and the second being the city’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) requires that impacts to sand supply resulting from shoreline protective devices be eliminated or adequately mitigated.”
Oceanside’s Local Coastal Program, as approved by the commission, gives the city authority over coastal development within city boundaries, which extend only to the mean high-tide line. Mitigation projects typically include things such as restoring wetlands or improving beach access, or paying a fee to help finance such projects.
The line of beachside boulders spans 20 separate lots in the two seaside city blocks. The property owners have asked to relocate or replace the filter fabric beneath the boulders, replace about 20 percent of the rocks that have fallen or rolled away, and restack the remaining ones. They also would replenish backyard sand that has eroded from behind the revetment.
Workers and machinery will operate from the rear of the private properties to avoid going onto the beach, much of which is below the mean high tide line and in the public domain.
Dillon, the applicant, told the Planning Commission in March that restoring the rock wall is essential. “Our repairs frankly will allow beachgoers to use more of the beach,” Dillon said. “Large boulders have gone westward and are actually blocking the pathway on the sand from homes to and from the pier.”
Oceanside’s Planning Commission approved the project in March.
A Surfrider letter sent to the Planning Commission March 28 said that the Coastal Commission should have jurisdiction because work is required below the mean high tide line. However, Senior Planner Scott Nightingale said the project was entirely within Oceanside’s jurisdiction.