The Harbor District will likely decide on a contractor for the long-awaited project to stem erosion at Surfer’s Beach May 8, with work to begin sometime in June, Harbor District General Manager James Pruett said.
The Harbor District is overseeing the project — which aims to dredge and relocate around 100,000 cubic yards of sand along the inside of the Pillar Point Harbor to the Surfers Beach area — and has obtained $2.7 million in state construction funding for the work.
No contractors have submitted bids yet, Pruett said, but an April 18 pre-bid meeting with more than 20 in-person attendees is making the district hopeful they’ll have a well-regarded, experienced contractor to work with.
“We were very happy with the number of people and companies who were interested in the project,” he said.
Once a contractor is selected, work will likely begin within a month, Pruett said, starting with work on a statewide eelgrass mitigation policy that requires no net loss of the plant. Construction must be completed by Oct. 15.
The project will minimize traffic impacts to nearby Highway 1 by piping, rather than trucking, the sand and water that will be removed through the dredging, which is being completed to mitigate erosion caused by installation of the breakwater.
The beach will be closed during active construction, Pruett said, but surfers should still be able to get out into the water.
“There’s still plenty of room for surfers to get around us,” he said.
Pruett is hopeful that successful completion of the dredging project will lead to a larger effort to stem coastal erosion down the coast. The mile-and-a-half stretch from the harbor down to Pilarcitos Creek is facing similar issues, he said, and the Harbor District is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to find the $3 million required for a preliminary study on the issue.
“This study we’re going to be working on [will] look at how to mitigate and prevent excessive shoreline erosion in that mile and a half,” he said. “What do we need to do to stop that erosion from happening and prevent it from taking down the shoreline?”
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