The city of Oceanside got a $1.835 million grant from the California Coastal Commission for its sand replenishment project known as RE:BEACH.
"This grant is for developing a really robust data set that'll allow us to then compare … once we put the project into the ground. So it's the baseline conditions of this experiment that we're doing," said Jayme Timberlake, Oceanside’s coastal zone administrator.
The experiment is an artificial reef design used in Australia. The artificial headlands act as points that slow down ocean currents and help retain sand on the shoreline.
But before that gets built, Timberlake says more data is needed. "One really big component of this grant will be covering the cost of understanding the seafloor bottom, and how the sand moves around on the sea floor," she said.
Timberlake said the sea floor will be studied throughout Oceanside and all the way to the jetties near Tamarack in Carlsbad that keep Agua Hedionda open. The surf will also be monitored and beach usage will be surveyed during this study phase.
The grant is expected to cover the majority of the studies, which are expected to last one to two years.
"We're still on track to hopefully have a shovel-ready project by 2027," Timberlake said. "In the meantime, we also need to be doing a fair bit of fundraising for the construction element of the project."
Construction of the artificial reef is expected to cost $50 million dollars, which could be funded through grants and city funds.
The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), also announced a regional sand replenishment project that would stretch from Dana Point to Imperial Beach.
"What SANDAG is trying to do is make this a more cyclical program, where we, as coastal cities collaborate together and work on this project together. Share the costs of it, share the responsibility of overseeing the feasibility and the design of it, and then move forward with this collaborative sand nourishment projects," Timberlake said.
SANDAG’s project is in early planning stages and is expected to cost $260 million dollars.
At such a hefty price, Timberlake says SANDAG and the Coastal Commission are both interested in seeing how Oceanside’s pilot project plays out.
