Beach dumping reviewed

Ash Avenue beach dumping under review Thursday, February 6, 2020  9

the lay of the land CVn

mike wondolowski

Walk out to the beach at the end of Ash Avenue and what do you find? If it is not high tide, you see huge ribbons of rocks ranging from pebbles to softball-sized and even larger. This stretch of beach is filled with remnants from the most recent round of sediment dumping, and requires a detour to get around or ninja-like care to walk across.

The sediment dumped on this beach one year ago was from the Santa Monica Debris Basin, and that included much of the rock that remains there today. In the immediate aftermath of the 2018 debris flow and flooding following the Thomas Fire, sediment from both the debris basin and the creek channels in the Carpinteria Salt Marsh was dumped on this beach. The sediment removal was urgently needed to reduce the chance of additional debris flows and flooding, and the beach was the most expedient disposal site.

Over the past two years, all this work— along with the dump trucks driving though Carpinteria and leaking mud along the way—was done under emergency permits, meaning there was little or no analysis of potential impacts. Clearing the debris basin and creek channels was urgently needed to avoid more flooding if additional heavy rains arrived.

The local mountains are now well into their recovery from the Thomas Fire, and much less debris and sediment is expected to be washed down by a large rain event. Therefore, flood control planning is now proceeding with full analysis of the activities, rather than under emergency permits. One key agency responsible for part of this work is the Santa Barbara County Flood Control District. To me, they are a lot like the offensive linemen in a football game. If they do their job really, really well, nobody knows who they are. But if something goes wrong, then the referee tells everybody exactly who is guilty of a penalty, or the TV announcer narrates a replay showing who missed a block that led to a quarterback sack. If there is no flooding, and if we don’t see the work being done to clear debris basins or creek channels, we are perfectly happy. But when the work catches our attention, we may not be as happy.

Over the past two years, there have been severe impacts to the ocean, beach, our roads and our air quality from the effort to clear the debris basin and creek channels and deposit the sediment on the beach–all under emergency permits. Many in our community are understandably resistant to such activities resuming.

But things may be changing. County Flood Control is working to get their work approved through the normal process–without emergency permits–which requires more analysis and review. The goal is to stay on top of the necessary regular maintenance of removing accumulated sediment from the Franklin CITy OF CArpInTerIA Bulldozers work at Carpinteria Beach at Ash Avenue to place sediment transported by truck from the Santa Monica flood control basin in February 2019.

and Santa Monica Creek channels in the Carpinteria Salt Marsh.

In 2003, an environmental Impact report (eIr) with detailed analysis of this work was approved, and maintenance was done as needed, with the removed sediment typically hauled to “upland disposal locations.” But now, County Flood Control is proposing to change the plan and dispose of the sediment on the beach near the salt marsh mouth and at the Ash Avenue beach.

Because this is a change to the previously analyzed and approved plan, this project requires detailed analysis of the impacts. now, a Supplemental eIr (SeIr) is in process. The public and relevant governmental agencies provided comments on the draft version of the report, and a final version will soon be completed.

The biggest issue identified in the comments was that the sediment is up to 60 percent “fines,” which means it is very silty or muddy. Some of the analysis of the impacts in the SeIr is based on observations from last year, where the sediment (from the debris basin) was less than 25 percent fines. More silt or mud in the sediment means more severe impacts in the ocean than the draft SeIr suggests, and includes turbidity (water cloudiness) and siltation, bacteria levels, ammonia levels and the resulting effects on kelp beds and marine wildlife.

One purported benefit by the draft SeIr is beach nourishment—the addition of sand and rock to counter beach erosion and storm threats to houses. However, comments from the Central Coast regional Water Quality Control Board pointed out that requirements for beach nourishment call for material that is no more than 50 percent fines. Since this material is up to 60 percent fines it may not be appropriate for beach nourishment, since smaller-grained material washes off the beach more quickly.

In other words, the single benefit asserted for the proposed change in the approved project may not be beneficial at all. So, our community could again endure beach sediment dumping with the dump-truck traffic, noise, air pollution and mud on the road for as much as six weeks, without seeing any benefit over the previous approach of upland disposal of the sediment.

Once the final SeIr is issued, the permitting agencies will use it as key input for their decisions. We are in a wait-andsee mode now. In any case, I, for one, am glad that this proposed project received the comprehensive analysis of an eIr, including the required public review and comment.

In the near future, a walk on the beach at the end of Ash Avenue will show us how well the process worked.

Mike Wondolowski is president of the Carpinteria Valley Association (CarpinteriaValleyAssociation.org), a local organization dedicated to maintaining the small beach town nature of our community. In his 30 years of involvement in planning issues, he has witnessed visionary successes, as well as decisions that were later widely regretted. When not stuck indoors, he can often be found enjoying Carpinteria’s treasures including kayaking and snorkeling along the coast, running or hiking on the bluffs or the Franklin Trail, or “vacationing” as a tent camper at the State Beach.