Cabrillo Beach Erosion Threatens Breakwater : Corps of Engineers Seeks to Study Possible Restoration of Outer Strand

The Army Corps of Engineers, concerned that erosion at Cabrillo Beach could eventually threaten the federal breakwater outside Los Angeles Harbor, wants to study the problem and come up with a plan to widen the outer beach by 100 feet.

The corps office in Los Angeles last week asked permission from its division headquarters in San Francisco to conduct the study, a move local officials hope will lead to the first sand replenishment project at the wave-battered outer beach in 25 years.

Preliminary Appraisal

A preliminary appraisal of the area by the local office estimates that 340,000 cubic yards of sand is needed to restore 100 feet to the beach, portions of which were washed away by winter storms in 1982 and 1983. The appraisal estimates the project would cost $1.9 million in federal, state and local money.

The man-made beach, which extends 3,000 feet along the outside of the breakwater from cliffs near Point Fermin to a small groin, was built in 1927 and was last replenished in 1962 with 1.2-million cubic yards of material dredged from the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors. At that time, the beach was about 250 feet wide.

The beach has been so severely eroded during the past 25 years, local and federal officials say, that it now ranges from 50 to 150 feet wide. The corps report states that even minor storms now cause damage to a county-operated parking lot behind the beach, which had been protected by the wider stretch of sand.

“We are losing the beach here,” said George Whitehead, a lieutenant in the county lifeguard service who works at the outer beach and supports replenishment. “In the winter, there isn’t a lot of beach left.”

Erosion Study

The preliminary appraisal, requested last year by the county and city of Los Angeles, recommends that the Corps of Engineers allocate $70,000 for the erosion study. In a letter to the corps last spring, the county warned that as a result of erosion, a breach in the federal breakwater, which runs parallel to the beach, was “a distinct possibility” because the man-made beach has protected the breakwater from the ocean’s waves.

Los Angeles County officials estimate that storms in 1984 and 1985 caused about $24,000 in damage to the parking lot along the breakwater, despite earlier efforts to fortify the area. After the severe winter storms of 1983, the county spent nearly $900,000 to repair the lot and build a protective rock retaining wall between the beach and the parking area.

Lawrence E. Hawthorne, a spokesman for the corps, said it will take several months for the corps division headquarters to review the local recommendation for the study.

Project Years Away

If the study is approved, it could take a year to complete, meaning the replenishment project would be several years away, at best. Hawthorne cautioned that approval of the study does not guarantee the replenishment project, which would need separate approval and funding guarantees.

The beach is a popular recreation area, particularly for body surfers, swimmers and children who explore nearby tide pools at the foot of the Point Fermin bluffs. Last year, county officials said, nearly 2 million people visited the beach and the nearby inner beach, which is popular with windsurfers. The inner beach is protected by the harbor breakwater and does not have as serious an erosion problem.

Larry Charness, chief of planning for the county’s Department of Beaches and Harbors, said the corps has asked local officials to tentatively commit themselves to funding the non-federal portion of the project, which the corps estimates would cost $900,000.

“We are reviewing the report, then we are going to be talking to the city of Los Angeles and the state Department of Boating and Waterways,” Charness said. “Once we get a consensus as to their willingness to share the cost of the project, we will inform the Army Corps of Engineers.”

City Not Committed

The beach is owned by the city of Los Angeles but is operated by the county. Joel Breitbart, assistant general manager for the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks, said the city supports the sand replenishment effort but has not made any commitment to help pay for it.

“The county is taking the lead on this one,” Breitbart said. “We are rather passive at this point.”

George Armstrong, supervisor of the beach erosion control program for the state Department of Boating and Waterways, said the state supports the replenishment effort. He said the state could end up paying as much as half of the local contribution, but said his department won’t become involved in the project until the corps obtains federal funding for it.

“Right now it is in the talking stage,” Armstrong said. “I can’t get too excited until they have gone through the environmental impact studies.”

An environmental evaluation included in the preliminary appraisal suggests that sand for the replenishment project would most likely come from “an offshore borrow site” near the beach, which could create environmental obstacles to the project. The evaluation states that dredging would result in “high mortality rates” for marine life in the sand, as well as “the potential for significant impacts” on kelp beds near the beach.

Temporary Effect

John M. Olguin, associate director of the nearby Cabrillo Marine Museum, said, however, that the effect on marine life would be temporary and isolated.

“You can kill everything in the sand, but the next year they’ll be back,” said Olguin, who supports the project. “They have a way of replenishing themselves. . . . Our beach is eroded to the point that it has to be replenished. It is a man-made beach and has no natural source of new sand.”

The environmental evaluation, while warning that the project could kill marine life, also emphasizes the need for the project.

“Because there is little or no natural supply of littoral material in the project area, the beach requires periodic nourishment if it is to be maintained to dimensions adequate for protective and recreational purposes,” the preliminary report states. “If the erosion continues unchecked, the parking lot may have to be closed permanently and the (federal) breakwater may eventually be damaged because without the beach there is no buffer to absorb wave energy.”