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.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

The 2010 El Niño: Five Years Later

The Calm Before the Storm: 
North parking lot summer scene with a south swell rolling in. 
Thanks to Surfrider activist Greg Gordon for submitting this pic.

As word of a major El Niño is upon us, residents of the City’s west side may recollect the last episode of 2010. That winter, a series of storms drove powerful waves into the base of the Great Highway south of Sloat. Coastal erosion was so severe that a piece of the road was undermined until it collapsed onto the beach. Luckily no one was hurt. Five years later, a fix for the Sloat erosion mess has been outlined in the Ocean Beach Master Plan. 

Led by SPUR, and forged with community input, a real long term solution for Sloat erosion is now making its way through the bureaucracy. As we have covered in this blog, the plan is to relocate the south of Sloat section of the Great Highway so that the beach can be restored. In order to protect the remaining infrastructure, sand dunes will replace the rock and concrete debris now littering the beach. A buried seawall may serve as the last line of defense for the wastewater plant and its supporting structures. We maintain that any kind of buried seawall should be re-aligned as far landward as possible.

The Ocean Beach Master Plan's design and other short term measures - such as sand stockpiling - are about to undergo review by the California Coastal Commission.    Look for public meetings on these issues soon. Better yet, send us your contact info and we will add you to our Sloat activist list.  Sign up at erosionob@gmail.com 

Thanks for checking in!