Posted on February 3, 2021
A long-term adaptive management plan is in the works for considering how to redesign, relocate or remove the park and its facilities
The Santa Barbara County Parks Division shared its ideas for the future of Goleta Beach Park at a virtual workshop on Thursday night.
County Parks is in the process of developing an adaptive management plan to begin thinking about the potential need to redesign, relocate or remove the park and its facilities in response to future sea-level rise and coastal erosion.
“Goleta Beach plays an important role in recreational, environmental and social equity values,” said Marie Laule, project manager for the county’s consulting group, Wood PLC, also noting that the park serves as the largest source of free coastal access in the county.
The park is home to 1.5 million visitors a year and offers amenities such as the pier, a playground, a restaurant, fishing, and barbecue and picnic areas, Laule said.
Historically wide and sandy, recent droughts have largely eliminated beach nourishment and greatly reduced sand at Goleta Beach, and major storms between 2014 and 2017 eroded up to 180 feet of the beach and park, Laule said.
In the past, the county has implemented soft coastal protection measures, such as copperfield geotextile cells, which proved to be costly and ineffective in preserving the park, according to Laule.
In 2017, the county took emergency action to place rock revetments in the unprotected areas of the park, which have since prevented further landward erosion and have not been found to have an effect on down-coast sand supply, Laule said.
“The revetment has proven to be the most effective method to protect the park and prevent further damage, lasting through the rest of the storm season and subsequent high-wave energy events,” she said.
Now that the immediate concerns have been addressed, the county’s adaptive management plan is aimed at developing more cohesive management on a long-term scale as opposed to “having to deal with the pressure of having to react on an emergency basis,” Laule said.
The adaptive management plan addresses the mid- and long-term impacts of sea-level rise on the park up until the year 2100 and guides actions for how to respond to coastal changes.
Data collected by Noble Consultants as part of the adaptive management plan shows that the park will be susceptible to severe damage from El Niño storms in the mid- to long term, according to Laule. Additionally, Noble’s “reasonably worst-case” projections for sea-level rise predict 2 feet of rising by 2050 and 6 feet by 2100.
“In these cases, there are vulnerable utilities and facilities that we need to plan for in terms of either relocation, reinforcement or redesign,” Laule said. “We think it’s best to plan for the reasonable worst case, then iterate that planning based on the actual effects of sea-level rise over time.”
The plan’s coastal study found that beach width plays a key role in the protection of the park, wide sandy beach and rock revetments are essential to protect the park, and the county needs to pursue increased beach nourishment.
On the 2050 timeline, the county is considering a number of options for near-term shoreline management. The county has found that revetment retention provides effective protection for the park, but is exploring the use of cobble groins or a permeable pier to retain sand as well. The county hopes to improve coastal access ways and ensure public safety by potentially installing steps over the rock revetment for easy beach access, Laule said.
The county is also exploring landward relocation of the major utilities at the park to get them out of the coastal hazard zone. While maximum retreat of the utilities is the most ideal, it would be difficult to perform in this case because of the physical site constraints behind the park, such as the Goleta Slough and Route 217, according to Laule.
“The decisions that we make in the near term play a crucial role in determining what our suite of options are for long-term management,” Laule said, noting that the park is not viable in its current location in 2050 without the current rock revetments.
Long-term action won’t occur for probably 80 years, according to Laule, but the county presented four potential futures for the park. The county is exploring the options of reinforcing the revetment to protect the park in its current location, relocating the park onto the pier similar to the style of the Santa Monica Pier, managed retreat to remove half of the park, or relocate the park offsite within Goleta Bay or farther.
Each option comes with its own advantages and constraints, and the virtual workshop was held to assess public interest in each option.
Many community members, including a handful of environmentalists from various organizations, expressed discontent with the use of rock revetments, saying that they have a negative impact on the environment and that there are other sustainable, feasible options that should be explored.
Many comments were in support of cobblestone berms instead of revetments, saying that they are effective and sustainable.
The near- and long-term plans for the beach are not set in stone, and the county plans to reconvene with stakeholders in February for further input. Community members can fill out a survey about the park and its amenities to assist in guiding further planning.
The public draft of the adaptive management plan is anticipated by spring, with the final draft expected to publish in the summer, Laule said.
