Coastal cities will be asked to split cost of sand study in massive replenishment project

North County Times

By Adam Kaye

September 14, 2007

NORTH COUNTY -- A regional agency that wants to replenish local beaches with sand is preparing to ask eight coastal cities to split the $500,000 cost of planning the project, officials said Friday.

The agency, the San Diego Association of Governments, has said it plans to dredge the sand from offshore deposits and pump it onto the county's shoreline in 2009.

The project would resemble a $17.5 million effort in 2001 that brought 2.1 million cubic yards of sand to 12 beaches from Oceanside to Imperial Beach and was the first of its kind on the West Coast.

Shelby Tucker, a planner with the regional agency, said Friday that the group wants local cities to split the cost of the planning effort based on the length of their beaches. The association's board of directors is scheduled to consider that proposal Sept. 28.

If the idea flies, San Diego, with 17.3 miles of coastline, would pay $199,000. The breakdown for the other cities would be Carlsbad, 6.5 miles of beach, $74,500; Coronado, 3.1 miles, $34,500; Del Mar, 3 miles, $34,500; Encinitas, 5.8 miles, $66,500; Imperial Beach, 2.7 miles, $31,000; Oceanside, 3.6 miles, $41,500; Solana Beach, 1.5 miles, $17,500.

Although it hasn't been served with a formal request for the money, the Encinitas City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on making its contribution.

Paying for the planning would just be the first step. Tucker said regional and local officials haven't decided how to split the local bill for the project itself, which is estimated to cost $25 million and would receive 75 percent to 85 percent of its funding from a state grant.

In planning the sand-replenishment project, much of the design work from the previous job can be reused for the upcoming one, Tucker said.

"Our goal is to take the successful project that occurred in 2001 and emulate it," she said.

That means most of the same beaches that got sand in 2001 would get a similar-sized helping in 2009.

Where that sand will come from will be the focus of planners in upcoming months, said Kathy Weldon, administrator of Encinitas' coastal program.

She said researchers would bore samples from the ocean floor and use sophisticated equipment to determine the depths of undersea sand deposits.

Officials from some coastal cities said Friday that they are prepared for a beach-building program to move forward.

Don Hadley, Oceanside's harbor master, said he has money in his budget to contribute toward planning costs.

"We have the money and are ready and willing to go," he said.

A city of Carlsbad engineer, Steve Jantz, said that city could tap money from a so-called "agricultural conversion fund" paid by developers of agricultural property to pay for sand replenishment.

Encinitas and Solana Beach both set aside money from hotel taxes to pay for beach-building. Also in Solana Beach, property owners who build sea walls must pay into a special fund to purchase beach sand.

Paying to plan a future beach-building project is "something that I, and I believe the full council, is fully supportive of," said Deputy Mayor Joe Kellejian.

Also enthusiastic about a sand-replenishment project is Encinitas Mayor James Bond.

"I think this is appropriate spending," he said.

Todd Cardiff, an attorney with the Encinitas-based Coast Law Group and a member of the Surfrider Foundation's local advisory board, said project planners must ensure sand replenishment does not alter or harm the reefs that form waves for surfing.

"In general, we do support sand replenishment and beach-building," Cardiff said, "but it has to be done in a way that takes into account potential impacts to surfing."

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