The Coast Line

Summer 2021 Newsletter

This Issue Includes:

• Announcement - Next Meeting at Buccaneer Park - Saturday, May 22, 8:30 am

• Sand Study Reveal

• Oceanside’s Current Beach Conditions

• S.O.S. Citizen Science Update, by Bob Ashton

• Coastal Commission Watch, by Patrick Alford

Join Our Next Meeting: May 22, 8:30 am

After a year of zoom meetings, we're ready and excited to greet our S.O.S. Members in person at Buccaneer Park on Saturday morning, May 22. Bring a beach chair, grab a coffee and a bite at the snack bar, and join us at 8:30 to catch up & plan activities to Save Oceanside Sand.

S.O.S. Members have been busy supporting the Oceanside Sand Study during the Covid shutdown. We're ready to share progress, answer questions and prepare for the results of the Study.

City Council members Ryan Keim and Kori Jensen will join us to share their commitment and vision for our beaches.

Sand Study Reveal

Global engineering firm G.H.D., Inc has been evaluating projects over the last 15 months to complete a feasibility Study for sand retention and replenishment. Working with Oceanside Public Works Director Kiel Kroger and Scripps Institute, lead consultant Brian Leslie from G.H.D. has identified an engineered solution to restore our beaches.

Scientific modeling and sand transport patterns were considered to recommend a project to help retain sand on our beaches. A public meeting in Council Chambers is being planned for late June to reveal and discuss the Study results.

S.O.S. Board Members have been following the progress of this Study closely. We will announce the date of the following public meeting so all interested members and residents may attend. We are hopeful that the Council will vote to continue the Study with the next engineering and permitting phase.

All members and residents are encouraged to email support to the Council at council@oceansideca.org for an engineered solution to Save Oceanside Sand.

Oceanside’s Current Beach Conditions

All Oceanside residents are (or should be) familiar with our annual sand cycle on our beach. Every summer, the South swells bring sand that nourishes our beach and covers the rocks and cobbles. By October, the beach looks perfect.

But then, the currents and weather changes, and by Spring, we have lost all sand that we gained the previous summer, plus we discover that we've lost just a little bit more than the last year.

The 2020-21 winter was no exception. Even though we had only a few relatively gentle storms this past winter and received rainfall way below average, our beaches lost more sand. The shoreline in most places is further inland than any previous year.

The annual harbor dredging is just finishing up. Dredging has moved the very fine sand and silt from the harbor mouth primarily to the pier area where it does not appear to be "sticking" --but will hopefully last through the summer.

Below is a view from the Pier looking South, and the cobbles on the North Strand Beach

In this photo, you can see the changes to Buccaneer Beach since September 2019. It is no longer a beach, but just a Buccaneer inlet

S.O.S. Citizen Science Update

Effort Contributes to Oceanside shoreline data collection.

S.O.S. Citizen Science volunteers completed their sixth Oceanside shoreline data collection effort. You may ask, what is Citizen Science? Citizen science is the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge. Through Citizen Science, people share and contribute to data monitoring and collection programs. Usually, this participation is done as an unpaid volunteer. 

Our Oceanside shoreline is monitored by periodic data collection, measuring the established transects or lines running from defined coordinates shoreward beyond the water's edge. The S.O.S. Citizen Scientists coordinate their data collection efforts, working closely with a University of California San Diego Scientists team. The monthly data collected is uploaded to the UCSD scientists for analysis. The engineers at G.H.D. are also assessing the data for the Oceanside shoreline study to develop, which will further provide recommendations for sand replenishment and retention solutions for our shore.

A vital benefit of this Citizen Science 'data collection effort' is that the scientists and engineers now have a more extensive database to draw from for their analysis. This increased Oceanside shoreline "data bank" comes at zero cost to the city, UCSD or G.H.D. S.O.S.

Board Members Serena Milne and Bob Ashton head up the S.O.S. Citizen Science Program. They are looking to expand the S.O.S. Citizen Science Program and are teaming with science teachers at El Camino High School to expand the data collection to include students and teachers in the Oceanography and Ocean Science programs.

If you are interested in getting involved in the S.O.S. Citizen Science Program, please contact Serena and Bob at SOSCitizenScience@gmail.com

Coastal Commission Watch

On April 15, 2018, the California Coastal Commission approved a complete update to the City of Half Moon Bay's Local Coastal Program (L.C.P.) Land Use Plan (L.U.P.). One exciting thing about this new L.U.P. is that it does not include a definition for "existing structures." Coastal Act Section 30235 permits shoreline protective devices when required to protect "existing structures;" however, "existing structures" are not defined. Coastal Commission staff argues that when the Coastal Commission unanimously adopted the S.L.R. Guidance Document in 2015, they interpreted that the definition of "existing structure" correlates with the effective date of the Coastal Act (i.e., January 1, 1977). Therefore, they believe that structures built after January 1, 1977, are not entitled to protection under Coastal Act Section 30235.

Coastal Commission staff and allied non-governmental organizations continue to advocate incorporating this interpretation into L.C.P. documents, including Carlsbad, Santa Monica, County of Sonoma, and Half Moon Bay. However, the "existing development" definition was removed from the Half Moon Bay L.U.P. before it was submitted to the Coastal Commission for approval. The Coastal Commission staff report notes Half Moon Bay was "…in essence deferring any explicit L.C.P. definition on this term to a future I.P. update or other L.C.P. amendment." They also noted that the Coastal Commission would continue to interpret "existing" development built before January 1, 1977, and not redeveloped since.

While it is good news that the Coastal Commission approved an LCP-LUP without an explicit definition of existing development, this does not indicate a departure on how they interpret what existing development vis-à-vis Coastal Act Section 30235 is.

Thank You!

Contact !S.O.S. Oceanside! sosoceansidebeach@gmail.com

Website: sosoceanside.com

Elise Wetherell - Publisher
Dirk Ackema - Editor, Director