'Managed Retreat' Planned for Ocean Beach

By Rich Zimmerman

By the numbers, it is "Resolution 001-02-COE Ocean Beach." Its unanimous passage by the SF Commission on the Environment in January means Richmond and Sunset district residents will be able to witness the forces of nature adjacent to the Great Highway do what comes naturally - pounding the shoreline.

A "managed retreat" option was deemed to be the last, best option for dealing with continuous erosion, highway flooding, and the natural migration of sand affecting the Great Highway. The "retreat" would be accomplished by moving the Great Highway, or at least its southbound lanes, inland south of Sloat Boulevard.

Public comments on the resolution were heard at a special Commission on the Environment meeting held Jan. l5 at the South Sunset Recreation Center.

Jurisdiction over coastal erosion involves the SF Department of Public Works, National Park Service, SF Department on the Environment, California Coastal Commission and US Army Corps of Engineers. Other concerned organizations represented at the two-and-a-half hour discussion and vote included the Ocean Beach Task Force, Surfrider Foundation, Audubon Society and Earth First!

San Francisco Supervisor Leland Yee welcomed the participants and spoke in favor of the pending resolution, calling it "a good start on a working document to protect the fragile natural ecology of Ocean Beach. It is a balance of helping the beach survive and serving the adjacent neighborhoods," he said.

After dedicating the session to the memory of Martin Luther King and the 35th anniversary of Golden Gate Park's Jan. l4 "Human Be-In" (a Polo Fields celebration of the Bohemian spirit, which predated the Summer of Love and attracted more than l00,000 local participants), Commission President Parin Shah called for the presentation of the Ocean Beach 2001 Status and Erosion Report.

Frank Filice from the Department of Public Works put it into historical perspective. "Since l995, storms have significantly eroded the roadside south of Sloat Boulevard. In l996, a 600-foot-long concrete barrier was installed to try to stop erosion, but by l999, an additional 40 feet of the bluffs were gone. High tides and storm sequences from the west combined with tidal action and storm surges from the north caused the most damage. Merely replacing sand is not enough to provide marine nourishment or protect the city infrastructure," he said.

Lara Truppelli, chairperson of the Ocean Beach Task Force, introduced members and noted the task force convened in March, 2000 and had met monthly for more than two years.

"One of the most challenging facets was dealing with multiples of state, local and federal agencies," Truppelli said. "The resolution addresses natural resource, recreation, access and erosion issues and the OBTF supports it."

Truppelli said the erosion south of Sloat boulevard is the most severe and that "sand nourishment" was only a short-term solution. "Sand will not be placed this winter and the board now prohibits hard structures. The DPW solution of setting back the roadway and four lanes would allow the return to a natural dune system," she said. "This would be more visitor-friendly and accessible than the present treacherous conditions."

Bob Battalio, another task force member, presented a series of graphics showing that the coastal area south of Sloat, according to records dating back to l850, was losing up to one foot of sand a year.

"Clearly, sand nourishment," Battalio noted, "was a temporary and costly solution."

Chris Kern, from the California Coastal Commission, commented on the commission's regulatory authority over coastal development and erosion control projects.

"Since the l979 reconstruction of Great Highway, the CCC was committed to maintaining a sandy beach through sand nourishment. Now, after a couple of studies and a lot of state money invested, we have determined that sand barriers (seawalls, cement blocks) are too costly (about $400,000/year) and now support the alternative managed retreat of moving the Great Highway further back from the shoreline," Kern said. "The CCC staff would like to see the City pursue this alternative and maintain - almost at any cost - the preservation of the sandy beach at Ocean Beach."

Filice also now supports rerouting the southbound lanes of the Great Highway from Sloat to Skyline Boulevard. "With 20,000 cars a day using the Great Highway, the natural process of beach narrowing and the issues of erosion, retreat and public access must be recognized."

Mike Paquet, environmental coordinator of the Surfrider Foundation, showed l994 photos of bluff erosion.

"The city's 'emergency rock revetment (abatement)' dumped on the shore in l996, l997 and l998 - along with the concrete rubble left behind from the Westside Project - is not only unsightly and dangerous for beach users, but is causing the beach to erode even more. Where there is no abatement on the beach, the beach remains. And the erosion resulting from the rock abatements will eventually damage the (Westside Project) sewage outfall. Managed retreat is the lowest cost, best option before us and will enhance an eventual complete restoration of the area," Paquet said.

General public comments mirrored concerns of the task force and Surfrider Foundation. Sunset District residents Linda Beasley and Joel Schechter actively support the rerouting of automobiles further from the shore and Alan Hopkins, a member of the Audubon Society, supported the plan for the creation of more natural sand dunes at Ocean Beach.