The Coast Line

August 2021 Newsletter

This Issue Includes:

• Breakfast Meeting at Buccaneer - Saturday, July 31, 8:30 am

• City Sand Study Reveal

• City Local Coastal Zone Administrator

• SOS Pop-ups on the Strand

• City Beach Access Issues

• SOS Welcomes Hospitality Industry

• Oceanside Longboard Surf Contest

Join Our Next Meeting: July 31, 8:30 am

Save Oceanside Sand will hold our second membership meeting since Covid on July 31st at 8:30 in the morning in Buccaneer Park. We hope to see everyone there! Be sure to bring your beach chair. The main agenda topic is the results of the Sand Replenishment & Retention study that was presented on June 30th.

If you missed the presentation, you can view it here.

The City Council is holding a workshop concerning the sand study recommendations on August 11th.

This SOS meeting will allow us to get input from our members on the study results and determine if we will fully support the recommendations made by the study team. In addition to the sand study, we will discuss the city establishing a staff position to be our Coastal Zone, Program Manager. We have invited several speakers for the meeting and will let everyone know if we get RSVPs from them.

Sand Study Revealed

By Dirk Ackema, SOS Director

Sand is a precious commodity on Oceanside beaches. The City Council unanimously voted 2 years ago to pursue and fund an engineering study to restore area beaches. The study was designed to identify the sand retention and replenishment options that were most feasible. Global engineers GHD Inc studied worldwide projects and conducted extensive coastal research to determine solutions that best suit conditions in Oceanside.

The sand retention choices included three options. A series of short jetties called groins was proposed to be spaced 1,000 feet apart from Tyson Street to St Malo. An underwater reef structure was also proposed to capture sand before it’s lost to offshore canyons. The third option was increasing the length of the south jetty at Harbor Beach.

A thorough evaluation process ranked characteristics of each of the options to conclude that a groin field best suits the conditions in Oceanside. Lead engineer Brian Leslie from GHD suggested that a pilot project of 4 groins be installed and monitored along the South Strand to establish their effect on sand retention.

The sand replenishment options presented included various methods of sand bypass pumping, similar to the annual Harbor dredging. These concepts need further study to determine their potential.

An interesting proposal was suggested by GHD to install a permanently buried pipeline along The Strand to suit the Harbor dredging. This project would save the federal government plenty of time and money and make dredging the Harbor each year much easier.

Oceanside Public Works Director Kiel Kroger has scheduled a workshop and City Council review for Wednesday, August 11 @2pm in Council Chambers. Residents are invited to attend or participate on zoom to ask questions or provide comments. Written comments should be sent to Kiel Koger at HKKoger@oceansideca.org

Oceanside City Needs a Local Coastal Zone Program Administrator

By Bob Ashton, SOS Coastal Science Director

With a city of 42.2 square miles, the Oceanside City staff is kept extremely busy keeping everything well administered and maintained. The day-to-day duties of keeping our beach city running are challenging and require significant staff focus. Oceanside also oversees and strives to maintain 3 miles of beaches and coastline. Currently, no one city staff person is focused solely on coastal and beach issues.

As the Beaches are one of Oceanside’s most valuable resources, it is time Oceanside establish and hire a City of Oceanside Local Coastal Zone Program Administrator. In hiring an Oceanside Local Coastal Zone Program Administrator, Oceanside will get an immeasurable return on investment.

This new staff position would greatly assist the City Engineer, City Planner and other key staff positions in the following areas with a focus on the Coastline and Beaches:

• Monitoring our Coastline and Beaches with respect to safe access, developing projects for sustained improvements 

• Development and implementation of coastal management plans and policies, including strategies for managing sea level rise

• Managing the City’s sand replenishment program to include tracking SCOUP permitting and opportunistic sand sources

• Liaison with Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton for coastal issue coordination 

• Assisting with implementing the City’s Climate Action Plan

• Grant writing; developing workshops and/ or presentations 

• Extensive coordination with sister Coastal Cities, regulatory boards, commissions, and agencies such as SANDAG, the Coastal Commission, State Coastal Conservancy, Army Corp of Engineers, and coastal nonprofit organizations such as Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper, among others

Other sister coastal cities like Encinitas greatly benefit from having an on-staff position of Local Coastal Zone Program Administrator. Oceanside will also benefit from the creation of the position. Surfrider Foundation San Diego County recently posted on their website the following - "we support community requests to hire a dedicated planning position for managing the coastal zone.”  

The time is now! SOS Oceanside strongly advocates for the City of Oceanside to establish and hire the position of Local Coastal Zone Program Administrator.

SOS Pop-Ups on the Strand

Every Saturday during our summer months SOS has hosted an information booth on The Strand, next to the playground. Volunteers have shared information with residents and visitors to educate them of our mission to Save Oceanside Sand.

SOS members explain that sand is being diverted from beaches to supply concrete for the construction industry. We explain that groins have been used worldwide to retain sand and protect beaches from widespread erosion. We offer solutions to find more sand, including dredging, trucking, and sand bypass. The challenge of getting Coastal Commission approval is also discussed with hopeful results.

While discussing our effort, SOS volunteers ask all to support Oceanside’s planned project to restore the beaches by signing a petition. We have collected over 1,000 signatures on these petitions, showing widespread public support for an engineered solution to Save Oceanside Sand.

There is a lot of encouragement from local residents who support our effort to build groins similar to Newport Beach. Visitors are also glad that Oceanside is working to provide more sandy beach areas to enjoy.

SOS members are encouraged to come by and join the volunteers on Saturdays in the booth. We’re meeting lots of people and enjoying good conversation with all on the beach, while we sit in the shade of the pop-up. For more information send an email to dirkackema@gmail.com.

Beach Access Issues - why are a number of common beach access points unsafe?

By Serena Milne, SOS Citizen Science

Eight months of carrying out beach measurements to provide data to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography for the Oceanside Sand Study has given SOS Oceanside members a chance to really observe the changing beach environment. One of the issues we have noted is beach access. From Tyson Street to South Point there are 15 public access points to the beach and every one of these access points is in pressing need of maintenance. A combination of lowering beach levels due to sand depletion and the lack of maintenance of beach access areas has resulted in both compromised and hazardous beach access points. This is in direct conflict with the Coastal Commission goal to “maximize public access to and along the coast”. Below are a few photos taken during our June survey to illustrate this issue.

If you are concerned about the lack of maintenance of our beach access points, contact your local council member.

Interested in joining our Citizen Science Project taking monthly surveys of Oceanside Beach? Please contact SOSOceansideBeach@gmail.com.

SOS Welcomes Hospitality Industry

By, Sonny Warner

Welcome to Oceanside -- where hotel and lodging statistics prove our town's a screaming success. Visit Oceanside reports 1.2 million room nights consumed by some 3.2 million visitors. The average stay is 4-nights by folks who spend about $204 a day; bringing in tax revenue, business profits, and local jobs.

Memorial Day weekend 2021 was great with both new resorts celebrating their grand opening. With large crowds for 4th of July, occupancy of all hotels has bounced right back after the COVID restrictions. Hotels/motels were at near-capacity, while short-term vacation rentals had been snapped-up weeks earlier and RV parks were booked-out with "glamping" guests and reliable return visitors.

No one can question Oceanside’s right to claim its place as a major player in Southern California tourism. But there is one crucial question visitors can rightfully ask of us --"Where is your beach?"

SOS wants to get a strong handle on what that question means to our lodging industry. Hospitality Liaison, Sonny Warner will be working with Visit Oceanside, hotel executives, property management companies, and all tourism businesses. SOS will be a ready resource for the GM's, Sales Directors, Concierges and Front Desk staff.  

SOS aims for a campaign to meet with local properties, quiz them on their concerns and bring ideas back to our SOS membership. This promises to create a dynamic alliance of the industry with the citizenry, as we work together for beautiful beaches back in Oceanside. 

Sonny moved to Oceanside in 2015 after a career in entertainment, broadcasting and marketing/advertising/PR. She welcomes your input and the chance to meet you! Just send her your thoughts to sonnywarner@pm.me 

Oceanside Longboard Club Contest: August 7-8

By Alisa Preiste

SOS is proud to participate in one of California's longest-running surf contests, the 36th Annual Oceanside Longboard Club contest August 7-8 at the Oceanside Pier. The SOS beachside booth will continue to provide the public with literature and information about sand retention options for Oceanside.

Volunteers are always welcome. To learn more about the contest, visit oceansidelongboardsurfingclub.org

Please forward this to your community. Thank You!

SOSOCEANSIDE.COM

Elise Wetherell - Digital Marketing
Dirk Ackema - Director

sosoceanside@gmail.com