Sloat Restoration through Managed Retreat

Sloat Restoration through Managed Retreat
This is our original vision for Sloat Restoration - graphic courtesy of PSA and Associates and the Ocean Beach Task Force

Our Vision of Beach Restoration and Preservation

The shorelines of Ocean Beach south of Sloat Blvd and Sharp Park in Pacifica are threatened by rip-rap seawallls and long-term erosion. This blog chronicles our campaign efforts to restore these beaches. Check out the web view of this site to see our proposed solutions and how to help- in the right hand column below. For all the latest about our efforts, see our monthly posts.

We advocate a managed retreat strategy to restore both Ocean Beach south of Sloat and Sharp Park.

At Sloat, our vision involves:

A long-term plan to relocate threatened infrastructure
(including the south of Sloat Great Highway, the two oceanside parking lots and the sewer lines underneath them).

The cleanup of all the rock and rubble littering the beach.

The use of sand dunes as the primary tool to slow erosion.

For Sharp Park, we advocate the decommissioning of the golf course, the removal of the rip-rap berm, and a full restoration of the wetland.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

New Online Petition for Sand Access and Rubble Clean-Up

A Surfer avoids the rubble strewn shoreline at 2nd Lot
Photo: B. McLaughlin

Greetings Surfriders and Friends,

Please sign our new online petition for near term improvements for Sloat!

While the Master Plan continues to be developed, we are asking that sand access to the beach be maintained at both parking lots. Additionally, it is time for initial rubble clean-up to begin.  The photo above shows the current situation at high tide.  Rubble that does not protect the bluff is now underwater. We hope to see this finally addressed in 2014.  Our new petition is a quick and easy way you can help with this effort!

In other news, we are currently engaged with our public agencies over a new erosion hotspot that has developed in the 2nd (South) parking lot. Apparently, some of the old drainage pipes may be contributing to a pair of notches that have recently formed in the bluff. See photo below. The spread of erosion from these two sites could lead to serious consequences for public access.  The parking lot could become severed into two pieces which would lead to its closure. Since the New Year, we have sent multiple inquiries to public officials from the SPUR team about the hotspot. A final word is still pending.  Let's hope the collaborative spirit fostered by the Ocean Beach Master Plan bears fruit!  One thing is for sure: we cannot afford to lose more parking access at south Sloat.

Thanks for checking in...