We hope everyone is doing alright, all things considered, and staying safe. It's starting to feel like Fall and the first solid North Pacific swell has arrived!
The letter that we sent in to the SFPUC commission generated the response that we were aiming for. Anna Roche gave an update on the last Commission meeting on the status of the project. The intention of the letter was not to argue for various aspects of the project, or to hurry things up, but to make sure that the project is still moving forward. We know the City is going to have to make some hard decisions with projected budget deficits, so we wanted to make sure they heard loud and clear that the beach can not be overlooked.
If you are interested in seeing the presentation, you can watch the meeting on the link below. The OB Climate Adaptation Update is item 7:
https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=192&clip_id=36277
Looking ahead, we were notified of the next public meeting which will be held on Sept 30th. We encourage all those who are interested in this project to attend as they will be updating the public on ways to comment on the EIR (Environmental Impact Report), as well as an update on the status of the project. We plan on sending in comments from the Chapter, but encourage individuals to do the same. You can register here:
http://bit.ly/oceanbeachscoping
In preparation of the meeting, here are the key items we will be bringing up during the CEQA process:
- Recreation: Impact to surfing needs to be considered as they are a large stakeholder in this project.
- Will access be affected?
- Will there be amenities such as parking, bathrooms, and trash cans within a reasonable distance from access points?
- Will there always be a dry beach for safe entrance and exiting from the water?
- Will sandbars be affected with the ongoing dune nourishment?
- Aesthetics: The design needs to be well thought out for the worst case scenario.
- The seawall that is being considered does not look like the low profile wall with a cap per the recommendation of the OBMP. The 3:1 slope angle is steep and we are not optimistic that dunes can be maintained on the top of such a steep and hard surface.
- Is ALL the rock and rubble going to be removed? There is a lot of rubble that is occasionally buried in sand below the mean high tide line.
- Is SFPUC access road the furthest east it can possibly be?
- As erosion continues, what is the beach nourishment plan? Are there triggers built in? For example, if a big swell hits, and washes away a lot of sand, how long before they place sand there?
- We want to make sure the access points are well thought out and they design for worse case scenarios. The last thing we want is for a nice wood walkway and stairs to be knocked out by a big swell and then left on the beach
- Water Quality: Both during the project and after.
- What is the project doing to prevent hazardous waste from flowing directly into the water during construction?
- Is there any danger of the LMT to leak during the construction process spilling sewage on the beach?
- Are there plans to plant native species and design for minimal runoff directly into the water?
The Planning Document is available and we highly recommend reviewing it before next Wednesday.
Lastly, we will do a little give away to some of those who write in by the deadline on Oct 9th. More to come on this!