GOLETA BEACH SEAWALL UPDATE

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is considering seeking Coastal Commission permits to construct a groin project at Goleta  Beach. The groin would trap sand and widen the beach.  However, EDC and Surfrider Foundation are very concerned that the groin will rob down-coast beaches of sand and cause significant environmental damage. Please email the Supervisors today to ask them to complete environmental review before applying for permits for the groin and attend the Hearing on 1-22-08!
 
WHAT:         Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors Hearing
 
WHEN:         Jan. 22, 2008 (afternoon - call 568-2140 for precise time)
 
WHERE:      County Admin Building - 105 E. Anapamu Street, 4th Floor
 
WHY:            To oppose County permit application for environmentally damaging groin project.
 
Background: The County installed a series of emergency rock seawalls when winter storms eroded a portion of Goleta  Beach Park. The California Coastal Commission has granted extensions of the emergency permit but requires the County to come up with a long-term solution to the erosion at Goleta  Beach that avoids environmentally damaging hard structures.  The Commission required the County to apply for a permit by the end of January 2008; however, the County has not completed its environmental and permitting review process.  Rather than request an additional extension that would allow the public process to be completed, the County staff seeks to submit an application for a permit to construct a groin on the beach. EDC and the Surfrider Foundation have been working with experts that determined that the groin may threaten down-coast beaches by periodically trapping sand that otherwise would supply beaches further south.  

Please e-mail or call the Board of Supervisors today:

1st District: Salud Carbajal, Vice Chair
Phone:             568-2186
E-mail:             SupervisorCarbajal@sbcbos1.org

2nd District: Janet Wolf
Phone:             568-2191
E-mail:             jwolf@sbcbos2.org

3rd District: Brooks Firestone, Chair
Phone:             568-2192
E-mail:             bfirestone@co.santa-barbara.ca.us

4th District: Joni Gray
Lompoc:          737-7700
E-mail:             jgray@co.santa-barbara.ca.us

5th District: Joseph Centeno
Santa  Maria:    346-8400
E-mail:             jcenteno@co.santa-barbara.ca.us

 

TALKING POINTS

This process is backwards. It is unprecedented and unheard of for the County to apply for state permits for a Project it has not yet even approved or completed the CEQA process on. Applying for a CDP before completing the CEQA and approval process biases the Board of Supervisors’ decision on this project. It is not likely the Board will approve a different project or alternative if the County has already applied for a Coastal Commission CDP for the pile groin project. The County must wait until it approves a project before it can apply for state permits because otherwise the County process is a sham with a predetermined outcome.

Surfrider submitted substantial and considerable evidence from a variety of technical experts that the proposed pile groin project violates coastal policies and therefore cannot be approved. Policies prohibit the County from approving projects that deplete down-coast beaches and install structures on the beach.  

Surfrider’s evidence also shows that the project will caused significant impacts that are not mitigated. The groin alternative will periodically interrupt the coastal sand supply and rob down-coast beaches of sand, causing bluff stability, public safety, recreation and ecological impacts that are avoidable.  

The groin alternative will also result in considerable construction and ongoing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from dredging including over:

3,515 pounds per day of smog causing nitrogen oxides every day;
227 pounds per day of smog and acid rain causing sulfur oxides;
161 pounds per day of particulates; and
609 pounds per day of carbon monoxide.
The prevailing wind patterns will blow this air pollution back towards Goleta Beach and Goleta.

The dredge area is 41 to 82 acres large – several times larger than the park itself, and will have to be repeatedly dredged every time storms knock sand out from behind the pile groin.

These impacts are not a one time because this project will require repeated, intensive and highly disruptive dredging and nourishment operations every time sand is washed away from the groin, for instance by SE storms.

Surfrider requested analysis of a modified version of the managed retreat alternative but despite Surfrider’s involvement in the Working Group process our alternative was never considered in the RDEIR. This alternative would maintain a wider beach, protect the park, and avoid significant impacts to habitat, water quality, recreation, air pollution and views. It would involve minimal rather than intensive ongoing dredging and nourishment operations, and it would comply with Coastal Policies.

Before jumping the gun and seeking state approval for a project for which the County has not yet even approved, the County must reconsider this premature and unprecedented action.  The County must first complete its process, certify its EIR and make findings to support its decision, and then the County can apply for a permit from the CCC.

 

All Backgroud info in Board letter