A stressful four-year, $7-million effort to bring sand to Malibu’s heavily eroded Broad Beach scored two major bureaucratic victories this week after the State Lands Commission (SLC) and California Coastal Commission (CCC) deemed the project application complete.
The coastal development permit (CDP) seeks permission to truck in 600,000 cubic yards of sand from a commercial sand quarry in Moorpark to the once-abundant seaside neighborhood where 114 homeowners have banded together over the past several years in an attempt to restore the beach as part of the Geological Hazard Abatement District (GHAD). Proponents estimate the project will cost $20 million.
Recognition of the application’s completion is not a go-ahead to begin trucking in sand, but proponents see it as a positive indicator of several governmental agencies getting behind the project.
“We’re thrilled to be making progress toward restoring the beach so that everyone can use it again,” said project counsel Ken Ehrlich. “We hope the CCC and SLC decisions will spur the Army Corps of Engineers and the [LA] Regional Water Quality Control Board to go ahead and make their decisions.”
To date, the GHAD has spent $7 million “without a pound of sand being brought in yet…most of it has gone to engineers and consultants for furnishing studies to the various agencies,” said GHAD project manager Mark Goss.
Next, the Coastal Commission staff has 180 days (roughly six months) to place the application on a meeting agenda.
“Our staff will aim to schedule this item for a Southern California CCC hearing within that time frame to enable local members of the public, interested parties and members of the GHAD to attend in person,” wrote Melissa Ahrens, CCC Planner.
Goss said the latest news is a relief.
“It’s been huge to get this ‘complete’ from the CCC,” said Goss, who also serves as president of the Malibu West HOA (owner of the Malibu West Swim Club on Broad Beach).
Goss also hopes the other “agencies and sub-agencies” will get on board soon.
“The Army Corps of Engineers hasn’t responded yet as to any additional information they might require, and we contact them at least weekly, if not daily,” he said.
During the four-year long quest for approvals, the GHAD investigated more than 20 sources of sand, including more than half a dozen offshore sources from areas like Dockweiler Beach, the Ventura Harbor, Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach. But those considerations were met with heavy backlash from the media and residents.
Now that an inland sand quarry has been approved as a source, Ehrlich said the GHAD’s goal is to have a hearing before the CCC this summer and begin the project in the fall.
The $20-million project will restore Broad Beach to its original width of about 100 feet on the mile-long stretch of beach from Trancas Creek to Point Lechuza, and re-establish sand dunes with native plants. The sand replenishment will also bury an emergency rock revetment that was put up to protect 78 properties in 2010, following several years of unusually bad erosion.
For residents, the project cannot start soon enough. Goss said the Malibu West Swim Club has lost 20 to 40 feet of beach width just in the past year, and as a result, they are rebuilding the lifeguard stand and removing playground equipment. In addition, he said that during a storm last month, the beach club “had seawater come onto its beach and into the parking lot.”
“This last storm event should be further proof [to the government agencies] that we need to get off our bureaucratic rear ends and get this project started,” Goss said. “We hope we can convince the agencies that we’re not just whistling Dixie.”
