By Barbara Henry
North County Times
November 28, 2006
CARLSBAD
-- By early spring, Carlsbad could have all the state and
federal permits needed to take unwanted sand produced by area
construction projects and put it on the city's beachfront.
"We only have two (environmental) permits left; we've
already got four," Steve Jantz, a city engineer who works
with Carlsbad's Beach Preservation Committee, said Monday as
he discussed the effort.
Cheerfully titled the Carlsbad Opportunistic Sand Program,
Carlsbad's sand acquisition effort has been in the works for
years. The city now has permits from the state Coastal
Commission, the state Department of Parks and Recreation, the
State Lands Commission and the city itself.
What remains are the permits from the Regional Water Quality
Control Board and the Army Corps of Engineers, Jantz said,
adding that the Corps permit is in the 45-day review process.
Other coastal cities, including Oceanside and Solana Beach,
also are moving forward with similar sand-snatching efforts.
"We're basically doing the same type of project,"
said Don Hadley, Oceanside's director of harbor and beaches.
The one difference is that Oceanside is a little behind
Carlsbad in the permitting process, Hadley said, adding that
his city expects to have its permits in hand by the end of
next year.
In Oceanside, any sand obtained through the program would go
between Buccaneer Beach and the western end of Oceanside
Boulevard; in Carlsbad, the extra grains would be placed on
South Carlsbad State Beach between Palomar Airport Road and
the mouth of Encinas Creek.
Both areas have been picked in part because they are
accessible by truck, city officials said.
"And (this Oceanside beach) is an area that probably
needs sand the worst," Hadley said. "As you go south
in Oceanside, the sand starts dwindling."
The new sand would come from local construction projects and
other sources. Carlsbad hopes to gain some sand from the next
round of dredging work in the Agua Hedionda and Calavera
creeks, Jantz said.
City officials have stressed in recent months that sand
received through the program will have to meet strict
standards for color and consistency, in order to avoid the
infamous incident in the mid-1990s when Carlsbad ended up with
a reddish load of sand dumped onto South Carlsbad State Beach.
Other restrictions on the program include limitations on when
the sand can be delivered. Trucks won't be permitted to place
the sand on the beach during the summer tourist season.
The new city-sponsored sand program is small when compared
with the tons of sand contributed by the San Diego Association
of Governments' $17 million replenishment effort in 2001.
Under the new program, Carlsbad will be able to accept up to
150,000 cubic yards a year. That's enough to put about a
30-foot layer of sand across a football field, Jantz said.
And, city staff members have said, every bit helps.
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