Imperial Beach Gets Huge Breakwater to Cut Further Erosion

The California Coastal Commission on Thursday approved a plan for building the state’s longest breakwater off the coast of Imperial Beach to block the severe coastal erosion in the area, but opponents who first fought the project in 1981 warned that it would hurt beaches around the breakwater more than it would protect the area inside.

Under the plan for the mile-long, $5-million structure, designed by the Army Corps of Engineers, an existing rock jetty near Carnation Avenue would be extended to 600 feet from shore, and a new one would be built 5,000 feet to the south. A submerged rock structure would connect the seaward ends of them, rising 10 feet from the ocean floor to the level of the water at low tide.

Corps officials said the project, which would take four months to complete, is the only one of its kind in the United States.

“We were looking for something that’ll actually do the job,” said Larry Hawthorne, a corps spokesman. “There have been temporary fixes, but it’s been a chronic-type problem.”

The corps’ solution is the same one it came up with in a laboratory four years ago, after Imperial Beach asked for help with the erosion problem. But the city couldn’t obtain federal money, and a group of residents and an Altadena geologist who wants to preserve the coast filed lawsuits charging that the city failed to consider sand replenishment.

“You build a breakwater once, and you’re stuck with it,” said William C. Kellogg, the geologist who filed suit. “It will cause trouble to the beaches to the north and to the south. They’ll have to put in more structures, each one worse than the last, and it’ll be a disaster. That’s what happened in Miami Beach.”

In April, after more than $2 million in federal money for the project was approved, a Superior Court judge ordered the Coastal Commission to hold a new hearing on a building permit, explore alternative ways of protecting the beach and make sure Mexican sewage would not be trapped within the breakwater. The commission staff responded by attaching conditions to the permit, holding Imperial Beach responsible for monitoring the effects of the breakwater and repairing any damage it causes. They said the breakwater would neither increase nor decrease the flow of sewage in that area.

The commission rejected a staff recommendation that Imperial Beach post a $4.5-million bond to guarantee funds to repair damages, but it approved the other conditions.

Imperial Beach Mayor William Russell said the vote showed that the commission, convinced of the city’s good faith, took into account the difficulty of raising cash.

“We will accept the responsibility for any problem that occurs,” he said. “We’re good neighbors.”

Kellogg, who is considering whether to sue again, called the city’s guarantee an empty promise. “They may have the responsibility up to their necks, but if they don’t have the money or the access to capital, it means nothing,” he said.

Kellogg and the project’s other opponents aren’t convinced that the breakwater will deposit sand on the beach where it’s needed.

“The project is an experiment--both sides agree it will cause problems,” said Jim Knox, who helped file one of the lawsuits and now is a member of the Pasadena-based Surfriders Foundation. “None of the people on the City Council are beach users. Their expertise stops where the sand stops.”

Russell said the city will contribute $1.35 million to the initial cost of the project and $26,000 yearly to its maintenance.