The 114 property owners making up Broad Beach’s Geological Hazard Abatement District (GHAD) are still waiting on the final word from two of the most important possible sand sources for their $20 million beach replenishment project—the City of Los Angeles and Ventura Harbor.
Even though Broad Beach gradually began losing its broad beach to natural forces over the past few decades, a group of beachfront property owners formed a GHAD in 2010 following several particularly bad years of beach erosion. The group is seeking to protect their homes and properties from the ocean by bringing in 600,000 cubic yards of sand along a two-mile stretch from Trancas Creek to Point Lechuza.
Ken Ehrlich, the attorney representing the GHAD, said two sites remain at the top of the project’s list.
“The City of Los Angeles and [the sand they own offshore near] Dockweiler Beach is still preferred,” Ehrlich said. However, “they’re still evaluating technical factors.”
Ehrlich explained that the City of LA was not even aware it owned the offshore sand until they were approached by the GHAD last year. Los Angeles therefore had no infrastructure in place for approving or evaluating the GHAD’s request to purchase sand off the coast of Dockweiler Beach (close to LAX).
“The City didn’t know it owned the sand, and has had a very steep learning curve,” Ehrlich said. “So, we’re giving them every bit of information they’ve asked for, and more. So is the State Lands Commission.”
When it comes to Ventura Harbor as a second possible source of sand, “We’re still trying to deal with regulatory approvals and make sure the economics make sense,” Ehrlich said.
“[The Ventura Harbor] sand is literally blocking the entrance to the harbor, and you’d need specialized equipment to dredge it, barge it [to Malibu] and pump it,” Ehrlich explained. “You need more equipment than you would for the Dockweiler sand. Dockweiler sand is more economical. The same piece of equipment can be used to gather sand from 80 feet below the water’s surface, store it and deliver it right onto the beach.”
Just in case neither of those two sand sources pans out, the GHAD has also completely opened up its search for other possible sources of sand: Mexico, the Inland Empire, farther out in the California desert and Northern California.
“We continue to work as hard as possible to finalize it,” Ehrlich said. “We’re focusing our effort on trying to get the sand source nailed down by the end of this year.”
Although the project was tentatively scheduled to go before a State Lands Commission meeting in February, Ehrlich said that probably isn’t going to happen, since nothing can be approved until the sand source is identified.
When the time comes, both the State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission will need to put their stamp of approval on the project before it can proceed.