The Seawall Amendment: A Discussion

CD: One thing people don't realize when they look at the bluffs in Southern California is that they think they look really solid. It looks like a rocky cliff, but it's sandstone and tends to fall apart if it gets wet. It makes me think of a famous philosopher who said only a fool builds his house atop a mound of sand.

CN: And that's what's happening in a lot of cases.

CD: What are the solutions to this that Surfrider is pushing?

CN: I classify them into two groups. Proactive and reactive. Proactive are things you can do before you get into trouble with coastal erosion. Things like setback laws where you'll have a coastal geologist plan for erosion rates with a 50 year setback - so no property above this line for 50 years.

Then acquisition of coastal property. Let's buy the buffers. Crystal Cove is a great example. On PCH between Laguna Beach and Newport, we have this nice bluff on the ocean side of the highway in its natural state, and the more we can do that, the more we can save ourselves from problems in the first place.

The reactive side is, ok, we've got these problems, what are we going to do? One option is that we can move these properties back like the lighthouse at Hatteras. That's not always an option, but we should look at it.

CD: That's expensive.

CN: But these seawalls aren't cheap either.

CN: Another possibility is buying out these properties over time.

And then a third that's somewhat controversial is beach nourishment, placing sand on the beaches I think we'll see that as a big trend on the west coast in the next few years. Some see it as a panacea. Others, Surfrider included, question the environmental impact and the cost effectiveness. Especially the effect on surf breaks. They've had all those things on the east coast, but maybe it's better than a permanent seawall.

CD: Then maybe the sand does stabilize and you end up with at least something rideable than an ocean full of backwash and a beach you can't walk down because it has no high tide line.

CN: That's another point we've been trying remind people of -- seawalls are a huge hindrance to public access. If you've ever gone and surfed the State Park in San Clemente, climbing up and down the seawall is hazardous, and it limits the access to only those who are fit enough to climb up and down the thing. Another great example in San Clemente is those Camino Capistrano mobile homes at the north end of town. If there is a seawall and the high tide is bucking up against it, you can't walk down the beach. You bump into a place it's no longer safe to walk. Your ability to cruise up an down the beach is taken away from you.

I think Californians hold beach access really sacred and this sort of thing goes completely against that.

CD: What are some hotspots?

CN: San Diego is a real hotspot. There was a debate recently about protecting the Cardiff SB parking lot with a seawall. State Parks backed off and our chapter is working on a non-seawall alternative. Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz. Ocean Beach in San Francisco. There's a lot of discussion about realigning the PCH to a managed retreat. And another place is surfers point in Ventura where the bike path is eroding.

CD: And look at Malibu, where even if you did have beach access you don't even have a beach anymore.

CN: Absolutely, and look at Highway 1 heading into Ventura -- those parts where you drive along and the water is lapping right up against the road. That's the perfect example of placement loss. They actually built the road and seawall right on the beach. We'd probably have a nice sandy coastline and who knows what kind of surf breaks there would be if that wasn't there.

CD: Where is AB 2943 now?

CN: The bill is in the Senate Appropriations committee, and then it will go back to the Assembly, because there were some amendments made. And then it will move on to a vote.

CD: What do you think will happen?

CN: That' really hard to say. I guess it's not surprising, but there's strong opposition from some of the developers and coastal homeowners. Sonsidering we're just changing shall to may it's been a strong reaction.

CD: Or maybe not, considering we're talking about some of the most expensive real estate on the planet.

CN: Absolutely. But you know, one of the Coastal Commission's main missions is balancing well planed development with beach preservation. And right now, we feel that the scales are tilted toward poorly planned development and away from preservation. We hope to convince these people that there's a larger public out there that loves these beaches and demands for that balance to be established.

CD: What can people who read this do?

CN: Check out our action alert. It's such an easy way to send a fax to your local representative on our dime. www.surfrider.org/seawall