OCEANSIDE SAND DUNE PLAN IS ISSUE FOR SOME
Concerns raised about restricting public access to Harbor Beach, a favorite with surfers and volleyball players
Residents unhappy about building sand dunes at Oceanside’s Harbor Beach have asked the city to consider moving the project to a different location, maybe near the San Luis Rey River mouth.
The city accepted a grant Dec. 20 of more than $56,000 for the proposed pilot project. A consultant will install low fences and stakes to hold wind-blown sand, creating dunes and habitat for native plants at three different locations totaling about one acre.
The sand dunes and plants are intended to demonstrate a small, nature-based solution that could help protect the coast from sea-level rise, flooding and erosion. The dunes also may lower maintenance costs by reducing wind-blown sand that piles up on sidewalks, streets,
parks and parking lots.
Largest of the suggested sites is an area just south of the harbor, where the beach is protected by the harbor jetty. The nearly 500-footwide
beach has many users, from surfers and sun-tanners to volleyball and soccer teams.
Other areas being considered are near Robert’s Cottages along
The Strand, in front of the gazebo at the northern end of Harbor Beach, and near the south jetty parking lot.
“My biggest concern is Harbor Beach,” Mayor Esther Sanchez said during the Oceanside City Council’s Dec. 20 discussion. “It gets very, very busy, wall-to-wall. You can’t even walk anywhere.”
Carolyn Krammer, a longtime resident and member of the local group Citizens for the Preservation of Parks and Beaches, also objected to the location near the harbor.
“This is about access to our beach,” Krammer said. “Fencing off any portion of Harbor Beach is limiting access.”
She also opposed one of the proposed native plants — the beach bur, which has thorns that can get stuck in people’s feet and a pollen that can cause allergic reactions.
“Who wants their kids to step on these thorns,” Krammer said, adding that a better location might be at the mouth of the San Luis Rey River. There the dunes and plants would protect the nests of the snowy plover and other bird species from people and dogs.
Representatives of the Surfrider Foundation and the Buena Vista Audubon Society both spoke in favor of the project. The beach bur could be dropped, they said.
“This is exactly the kind of project that is needed to provide for sea-level rise resiliency,” said Natalie Shapiro, executive director of the Buena Vista Audubon Society.
Dune locations and the plant list will be refined as work proceeds, said Carolyn Lieberman, Southern California coastal program coordinator for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
“We envision ... working with the community, the users, the lifeguards, junior lifeguards and the event groups to figure out where are the best locations,” Lieberman said.
The dunes and plants can be installed only on beaches that already have a significant amount of sand, she said. That rules out the largest part of the city’s coast, which is the badly eroded shoreline south of the municipal pier.
Councilmember Rick Robinson said the city should approve the grant and not worry about the details, “so we can move forward and find out the answers to all these questions.”
“I don’t think we should try to design a project from here at the dais,” Robinson said. “We don’t have the technical expertise.”
City staffers should not be criticized for doing what they were asked to do, said Councilmember Ryan Keim.
“In South Oceanside we don’t have enough beaches to put dunes on,” Keim said. “We keep hearing ‘dunes, dunes, dunes,’ so staff goes out and pursues dunes ... and now there’s a challenge with it.”
“I love ... that we are going to test an idea about sand retention,” said Councilmember Eric Joyce. “This is the most natural (solution) that I’ve heard of, because we are doing so little to change the actual beach. We are not adding a big structure, we are really just doing small things ... if this doesn’t work, we pull it up and move on.”
Rincon Consultants, a statewide firm with an office in Carlsbad, received a $15,519 contract in March to develop preliminary plans. The $56,876 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will allow Rincon to complete the project at a total cost of up to $84,501.
The dunes are expected to be built in early fall of 2024. The contract includes monitoring and maintenance through September 2028 and could be extended.
The dune project is one of several beach preservation efforts Oceanside is pursuing.
Beaches north of the city’s pier have been built up with sand dredged from the harbor annually since the 1960s. Still, coastal erosion appears to be accelerating, and the city is looking for other replenishment sources.
Three international design firms are competing for a contract to restore and retain sand on the badly eroded beaches south of the pier in a project the city is calling Re:Beach.
The City Council could choose a preferred contractor for the Re:Beach effort early this year, though so far no money is available for construction. Costs have been estimated at $50 million or more.
Oceanside also has joined other San Diego County coastal cities in contributing a portion of the costs for the initial studies led by the San Diego Association of Governments to start a third regional sand replenishment effort.
SANDAG completed two previous projects in 2001 and 2012 that pumped sand to multiple locations along the county’s coast.