The Dana Strands Seawall
©Wasseman
 MC:
Basically the development at the Strands is the cash register for the
whole Headlands. To build at Strands, they need to rebuild the revetment.
The Coastal Act says that you can only build coastal structures if there
is an existing structure in jeopardy. So, what they're saying is that
the abandoned mobile home park is in jeopardy. Therefore they need to
rebuild the revetment. Then once they've built the revetment, they can
demolish everything and build more homes.
CD: Let's be clear on this. The Coastal Act says you can't build
a seawall to protect a new structure. So they're saying that the seawall
is to actually protect an existing structure that really no longer exists.
MC: The paths
are still there from the trailer park and the clubhouse is still there,
so they claim it's an existing structure and that it's a safety hazard
for people on the beach. Basically that's the justification for getting
the revetment permit.
CN: The only
thing they could claim is that they need to protect the old clubhouse
and trailer park -- all of which they plan to tear down anyway. This is
why you should have these setbacks on the beach.
CD: I heard
a additional claim that if the wall wasn't built, there would be a threat
to the kelp beds offshore.
MC: Well
the developer retained Scott Jenkin, a coastal geologist (ed's note: Jenkins
is also a former director of Surfrider). What he said was, that without
this revetment, a massive bluff failure could occur that would dump a
bunch of sediment and kill all the offshore kelp beds. Now man needs to
protect nature from itself.
ML: The argument
is that this has to be considered the site of an ancient landslide. But
ancient is the key because this land isn't mapped to have moved like this
in 11,000 years.
MC: We had
some professors from Scripps who just laughed at the kelp argument. They
said the predictive modeling is weak, and the catastrophic event they're
talking about would have to be the Mother of All El Ninos.
CD: So
how big is the dig that they would do for this? How much grading with
big trucks?
|
Add Comment