One of the line-items on the November 2017 California Coastal Commission agenda was a one-year extension of the beleaguered Broad Beach Replenishment Project. Following years of delays with issues ranging from sand sourcing to legal battles of all shapes and sizes, the project has been slow to get off the ground—and proponents of alternatives such as artificial reefs are hoping to succeed where the Broad Beach Geologic Abatement District (BBGHAD) seems to have failed.
“In 2010, while beach nourishment was being considered, your staff engineer, Leslie Ewing, noted in a memo that the reef option was considered to be an augmentation to any delivery alternative and was recommended for possible consideration in the future if sand transport rates are high enough to make retention structures economical,” Jonathan Mason, representing Schmitz & Associates, told the commission on Nov. 9. “Well … sand costs are more than triple what the GHAD initially assumed. The reef as a sand-retention measure is indeed now economical [and] makes enormous sense.”
Schmitz & Associates was hired by several Broad Beach homeowners to investigate the possibility of installing an artificial reef off the coast where the beach has severely erroded.
Commission Chair Dayna Bochco rejected the request.
“I actually do look at this as a rather blatant attempt for some members of the GHAD or homeowners, I guess, is more precise, to reopen the permit,” Bochco said, later adding, “I am of the strong opinion to allow the applicant to get a continuance to try again to satisfy those conditions, or if they find a better approach, then they can come back to us. They’re the ones with the permit.
“You know, I’m just a little bit flabbergasted when people who didn’t even get the permit … are coming in and asking us to have a new hearing on something that isn’t even before us,” Bochco said.
The commission voted unanimously to grant the one-year permit extension.