Oside beach pilot project approved

The City Council approves a robust pilot program with Australia-based firm; the next 2 years to focus on final design, engineering, environmental reviews and costs

The Oceanside City Council unanimously approved moving forward with the coastal resilience project. The next steps include developing the final design, engineering, permitting, funding and more. Steve Puterski photo

OCEANSIDE — A thrilled audience gave a standing ovation to the City Council after unanimously approving moving forward with the design team, final design, engineering and environmental tasks during Wednesday’s public workshop.

After years of work, ideas and pivots, the city is officially moving forward with the Oceanside Coastal Resilience Competition as the council formally approved International Coastal Management’s proposal of “living speed bumps” which features a headland and an eco-engineered reef to tackle sand retention and nourishment along the city’s southern coastline.

ICM, which is based in Australia, was selected by a jury of 10 in December after the RE:BEACH competition, which featured three firms with international experience in sand replenishment and nourishment. Part of the next steps is also to select a site for the pilot project, according to the staff report.

Jayme Timberlake, the city’s coastal zone administrator, said the pilot project by ICM calls for 900,000 cubic yards of sand.

“The primary function of the proposed reef would be to reduce storm wave energy, reducing erosion impacts on shore it will also help stabilize nearshore nourishment around the reef,” said Aaron Sayler, the principal coastal engineer with ICM. “This is where the majority of the surf enhancement would be seen (sand bars around reef), however, on certain conditions it would also be expected to have surfable waves on the reef itself too. 

We are super excited to see a unanimous council vote to move forward with ICM and our proposed concept! Really looking forward to delving into the next stage of design and seeing this project come to life. 

Other next steps including working through the permitting process, finding funding sources and receiving approval from the California Coastal Commission, Timberlake said. Brian Leslie, GHD Inc., a senior coastal scientist and consultant with the city, said the end goal is for a “shovel ready” project by 2026.

As for the cost, he said initial estimates are between $30 million to $50 million, although those will be refined over the next 12 to 18 months.