Posted on May 10, 2023
Today, the City of Oceanside named 15 local, state, and national experts to serve as a Jury in its upcoming Coastal Resilience Design Competition. The Competition intends to generate innovative solutions for the retention of sand along Oceanside’s beloved coast, particularly south of the Oceanside Pier where the impacts from rapid coastal erosion are felt most acutely. The Design Competition is a component of the Phase Two: Sand Nourishment & Retention Pilot Project, approved by City Council in January 2023. The Phase 2 Project additionally entails the identification of a localized offshore sand source that can be more readily excavated and placed, fulfilling the beach nourishment component of the two-pronged approach to alleviating eroded beach conditions.
The Design Competition Jury is a key component of the Coastal Resilience Design Competition and consists of 10 voting members, reflecting community, regional and stakeholder interests in the implementation of a pilot sand retention project. Additionally, five non-voting, advisory members will also participate, share, and discuss design and permitting complexities from their perspectives and experience. Each juror applied to participate in this role, and the Jury’s final composition was established to form a balanced and wide-ranging portfolio of expertise and perspectives.
Highlighted Jury members include:
● Dr. Lesley Ewing PE, former Senior Coastal Engineer for the California Coastal Commission
● Dr. Charles Lester, Director, Ocean and Coastal Policy Center, Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara, and former Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission
● Bob Ashton, CEO/President, Save Oceanside Sand (SOS)
● Chris Abad, Director, Oceanside Boardrider’s Club
● Councilmember Dwight Worden, Del Mar City Council and Chair of SANDAG Shoreline Preservation Working Group
“Oceanside has a legitimate sand loss problem. I want to help find a solution that works for Oceanside that is consistent and supportive of the needs of all the cities in the littoral cell. The right solution will create a sandy beach that benefits the region, does not disrupt surf or biotic resources, and does not impede downstream sand flow.” —Councilmember Dwight Worden, Competition Juror, Del Mar City Councilmember and Chair of SANDAG Shoreline Preservation Working Group
Non-voting advisory members include representatives from the California Coastal Commission, Surfrider Foundation, and the California State Coastal Conservancy. A full list of the Jury can be found in the Competition’s Design Brief.
“My vision for the Oceanside coast is that it becomes a feeder for the entire littoral cell and an example for other North Coast communities. I believe this Design Competition will help make this vision a reality.” —Dr. Lesley Ewing, Competition Juror, Former Senior Coastal Engineer for California Coastal Commission
Through a competitive process with community and expert input, designers will develop innovative yet implementable solutions. Teams will be encouraged to explore nature-inspired or nature-based features in their designs, and the City expects their proposals will utilize a mix of interventions that include but are not limited to dunes, cobble berms, headlands, and reefs, to support sand retention and storage. The competition is designed and managed by Resilient Cities Catalyst, a nonprofit organization with experience managing international design competitions and developing resilience projects. GHD, Inc., serves as the prime contractor and consulting firm responsible for the engineering and permitting of the selected pilot project.
“This competition is addressing one of our greatest coastal management challenges and I am looking forward to working with other jurors to identify resilient shoreline strategies that address all of our shared concerns, including maximizing public beach and recreational access, protecting ocean and coastal habitats, maintaining a strong coastal economy and providing affordable housing for all who want to live in Oceanside, built on the recognition, engagement and equitable treatment of all social groups and cultures.” —Dr. Charles Lester, Competition Juror, Director, Ocean and Coastal Policy Center, Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara, and former Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission
Three design teams will be selected from a pool of experienced firms, and will receive a stipend to participate in the eight-month competition. These design firms will be selected by the City in June 2023. It’s anticipated that the final designs will be reviewed and voted on by the Jury in December, which will be brought to the Oceanside City Council in January 2024 for final approval of the winning design. The winning team will receive an award of at least $100,000 and will continue to work on a final permitted design, bringing the design through to being shovel ready by fall of 2025.
In addition to announcing the Jury, the City of Oceanside is concurrently releasing details on the Competition’s Design Criteria, as well as initial dates for Public Workshops.
Design Criteria
The Oceanside Coastal Resilience Design Competition aims to surface an innovative, multi-benefit, sand retention project for the City of Oceanside’s beaches that provides both local and regional benefits. The Jury will use specific Design Criteria to evaluate the designs. The Criteria are meant to fulfill two core objectives: (1) provide limits to the scope of design for the proposed solution; and (2) generate a set of goals that design teams, and their solutions can be measured against. There are five specific categories that the Criteria address, including 1) physical, 2) financial, 3) environmental, 4) social, and 5) regional aspects of the design.
Project designs will assume that 300,000 cubic yards of beach nourishment sand (i.e. additional sand) will be available initially within the project area, with beach nourishment sand provided every five years for potential ongoing sediment management needs. The design teams can utilize this sand within their designs and propose various sand placement mechanisms within their concepts.
The detailed Design Criteria can be found on the City website in the Design Brief.
“The Design Criteria set the boundaries for the designs, ensuring that the Design Teams can be creative with solutions, while still keeping in mind the most central aspect of the Project: to restore sandy beaches in Oceanside while considering sand supply to other areas of the coastline. Restoring sand beaches and maintaining placed sand shall be essential to meeting many of the additional Design Criteria, such as ensuring the preservation of surf resources and restoring the sandy beach habitat for the beach-goer and the local coastal ecology.” –Jayme Timberlake, Coastal Zone Administrator, City of Oceanside
Public Workshops
The City will host three public workshops in 2023. At these workshops, citizens will have the opportunity to see the design process in detail, and provide comments that will assist in refining the designs.
- Late August—Public Workshop 1—Exploration of Approach
The first public workshop will be an opportunity for teams to gather broad input on initial design approaches. Design Teams will work to gain perspective on community stakeholders’ goals and desires for the coast, and collect directional feedback to inform the designs going forward.
- Mid October—Public Workshop 2—Refining the Design
The second public workshop will feature team presentations of more developed designs, with specific components and elements visualized with opportunities for feedback.
- Early December—Public Workshop 3—Final Designs and Feedback
The third public workshop will feature final proposed designs. Teams will clearly show how stakeholder input shaped their designs, and why they arrived at the final solutions. Public comment will be gathered and analyzed, and provided to the Jury and City staff as an input to decision making.
“Being an Oceanside resident since 1962, I grew up on the Oceanside beaches, walking, running, swimming, surfing, body surfing, and fishing, grunion runs. Over four generations, our family has enjoyed our Oceanside coast. This is an exciting time in our city’s history, and the Design Competition is an amazing opportunity to restore our shorelines with an approach that not only benefits Oceanside, but will serve as an example for other beach cities to follow.” —Bob Ashton, Competition Juror, CEO/President, Save Oceanside Sand (S.O.S.)
For more information on this and other coastal management efforts, please visit the Coastal Management webpage.
