Progress made to Replenish Surfers Beach

San Mateo County Harbor District officials are navigating federal regulations as they aim for a pilot project that could stem erosion at Surfers Beach and help protect against sea level rise.

Slow but steady progress is being made in the yearslong effort to dredge Pillar Point Harbor and use the material to bolster Surfers Beach. Federal, state and county agencies have long looked toward the popular site just south of the harbor where coastal degradation and sea level rise may threaten Highway 1.

The district’s pilot program would involve a one-time dredging of 75,000 cubic yards of sediment, and ideally placing it to the south of the harbor. The benefits are twofold — remove sediment that gets trapped inside the harbor to provide more room for boats, and replenish sand at the beach. While beach replenishment isn’t a new concept, Harbor District General Manager Steve McGrath said the local project could generate useful insight in changing times.

“We’re calling it a pilot project because we want to find out how well this will work in stabilizing erosion along this bluff. Ideally, lessons learned would be applicable statewide. We’ve seen the severe erosion, we’re facing the impacts of rising seas and climate change. And all information and data that can be developed to help our shorelines, can only be good for the state,” McGrath said.

Hurdles remain

The Harbor District took the reins of the project after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined a cost-benefit analysis did not warrant the federal government paying for dredging at Pillar Point.

While nearly $875,000 in funding has since been identified, there’s a complex network of permits that must be secured and more planning to boot. A major hurdle is gaining approval for where the dredged sediment can be placed, McGrath said.

The harbor is located near protected waters overseen by the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and is part of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Currently, artificially placing dredged sediment inside the sanctuary is forbidden at Surfers Beach based on a management plan drafted when the sanctuary was first formed.

McGrath said both the Army Corps and Monterey NOAA officials have been supportive of their efforts, but noted current sanctuary regulations don’t provide flexibility to address changing times. Now, they’re hoping to possibly include approvals for dredging at Pillar Point as part of NOAA’s update to the regional sanctuary management plan, he said.

“We are working to try to encourage the federal authorities to look at these sort of blanket statements that are so restrictive as being unwise in a time of climate uncertainty with sea level rise,” McGrath said.

But that’s not to say federal officials haven’t been supportive, he emphasized. The corps has expressed a willingness to possibly help with monitoring the site after dredging, a costly requirement for which the district could use assistance. Monterey Bay sanctuary officials have also written in support of the project, he said.

“All the regulatory agencies involved seem committed to finding a way through the morass of rules and regulations to make this project work,” McGrath said.

While replenishing Surfers Beach is a major goal, McGrath noted there are also beneficial reuse opportunities for the dredged material at other nearby locations including the Princeton shoreline and West Trail near Mavericks.

Moving forward

This month, the Harbor District’s subcommittee met for a status update on the Surfers Beach replenishment project. McGrath said $800,000 was allocated toward the local project with Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature on the state’s budget. Accessing the funds now requires State Parks’ Division of Boating and Waterways to approve the district’s plans. The design and planning stage is also being supported by a $75,000 grant from the Ocean Protection Council, McGrath said.

Should all go as planned, officials hope to dredge an area of the harbor between the outer and inner jetty around summer or fall of 2018. The project scope will continue, however, as monitoring of the site must continue for two to three years and the sand isn’t expected to remain in place for long. That ongoing requirement is where the corps may help, he said.

Locals were frustrated when the Army Corps made an official announcement earlier this year that the cost of the project didn’t warrant federal benefits. The decision came following a costly yearslong study.

“I understand the community did have some frustration. It was a long process, the Army Corps is known for studying projects in great detail and sometimes the results of that study were not what our community wants to hear. That was certainly the case in this one,” McGrath said, noting the federal analysis didn’t include “the cost associated with damage or [potential] relocation of Highway 1, because that’s a state responsibility.”

The corps has been involved as it constructed the outer jetty in the 1950s. Such structures are often cited as the source of degradation of nearby beaches as sand is trapped inside harbors. But the state and local governments have taken notice as erosion has the potential to threaten recreational value as well as critical infrastructure like Highway 1.

San Mateo County spearheaded a collaboration with Caltrans and the city of Half Moon Bay to conduct a shoreline restoration project that included installing riprap, improving a segment of the coastal trail and creating access to the beach. The project was completed last year. But at the onset, Caltrans predicted the bluffs were eroding at 1.5 feet a year and officials acknowledged they could only slow the natural process.

It’s unclear what level of protection replenishing the beach will provide against erosion, particularly as the sand will undoubtedly move after some time. But McGrath said work done to date will help inform the direction moving forward as coastal communities continue to combat sea level rise.

“There was a lot of information out there already through studies the Army Corps did. But we’ve got additional studies, project description and permitting to get through yet,” McGrath said. “The district remains committed to working with whomever, however, to ensure the completion of the project. … But it’s a pilot project. We don’t know how to define success yet.”

Source: The Daily Journal