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Community Corner

Imperial Beach May Be Top Recipient of New Sand in 2012

As part of the Regional Beach Sand Project, Imperial Beach may get up to 650,000 cubic yards of beach sand next summer, more than any other city involved.

Imperial Beach and beaches throughout San Diego County could be in for some new sand next summer, after the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) approved a final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Regional Beach Sand Project.

The project will go before the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday to have a final permit approved.

According to the EIR, Imperial Beach will be the biggest recipient of beach sand. 

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Shelby Tucker, senior regional planner with SANDAG, said Imperial Beach can get up to 650,000 cubic yards of sand.

A total 2.3 million cubic yards of sand will be dumped on nine other beaches in the region, including Solana Beach, Oceanside, Cardiff and Leucadia.

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This will be the second time Imperial Beach has received SANDAG sand. The first was in 2001 as part of the first Regional Beach Sand Project when Imperial Beach got about 160,000 cubic yards, Tucker said.

“2001 was a pilot. It was just meant to see if we could do this type of project in the region,” Tucker said.  “It was never meant to be the only project. There was always a hope that we would do this as a regular maintenance activity.”

Tucker said the new sand will be dredged offshore from a borrowed site, which for Imperial Beach is off the coast of Mission Beach, the same place sand came from in 2001. 

SANDAG believes in order to combat beach sand erosion, dredging beach quality sand from offshore deposits and pumping it onto the shoreline is a less expensive and better alternative to building seawalls.

Tucker said 85 percent of the project will be financed by the California Department of Boating and Waterways while Imperial Beach will finance the remaining 15 percent.

Once the permits are finalized, sand replenishment will happen between April and October 2012, she said.

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