BOS meeting on Tuesday Feb 2, Item NO. 35

Last week the SF Board of Supervisors (BOS) declared an emergency at Sloat for one week and required the SF Department of Public Works (DPW) to come back on the Feb 2nd BOS meeting.

During the last week, SF Surfrider, Save the Waves, Lara Trupelli from the Ocean Beach Vision Council, DPW, Army Corps of Engineers, several scientific experts, Supervisor Mirkarimi and others discussed alternatives to the proposed short-term solution of placing rock along 900-feet of shoreline at Sloat.

The environmental and scientific community that have been involved for over 10 years with the coastal erosion issues at OB were encouraging the use of "soft" solutions such as beach nourishment, retreat and sandbags (though sand bags fall somewhere in between soft and hard structures).

The severity of the emergency and the fact that the structure involved is a sewer pipeline, the City's DPW does not seem to have many other options, both politically and financially, than to place rock for this emergency. This is the result of unsatisfactory long-term planning. Now Ocean Beach will pay the consequences.

SF Surfrider still prefers, supports and recommends the use of sandbags, beach nourishment and retreat -- but if ROCK has to be used to address this emergency, than the following should be applied:

(1) absolute minimum amount of rock is placed - and only in the areas of critical need.

(2) SF Surfrider advocates that the scope of work be defined - limited to only protecting the Lake Merced Transport Tunnel, NOT the Great Highway or the parking lots.

(3) if rock has to be placed on the beach, than we call for MITIGATION work by removing an equivalent amount of old construction debris from OB at Sloat (the old concrete, brick and road chunks)

(4) finally, we call for re-establishment of a government/community

stakeholder group with the goal of developing a sensible long-term plan for the coastal erosion problems at OB. The plan should recognize sea level rise, include the goal of preserving the BEACH as a top priority, and avoid further waste of public funds.

(5) encourage the discussion of "coastal retreat," relocating structures out of the way of coastal erosion. For example, it may be possible to move the Lake Merced Sewer Transport Box from its current area by constructing a new facility farther inland

(6) the City of SF should work with the California Coastal Commission to assure that they are in compliance with prior emergency permits and to update the local coastal program (LCP) for City of SF

(7) Ocean Beach is our national park beach and all activities should be consistent with the National Park Sevice/GGNRA.

COME TELL THE SUPERVISORS WHAT YOU THINK
Board of Supervisors Meeting
Tues. Feb 2nd, 2PM
Item #35
Civic Center
San Francisco
http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=2314