2 Beaches Considered for Sand-Pumping : Technology: The Ventura County sites are being studied for use in an experiment to end years of erosion.

Two Ventura County beaches--Oxnard Shores and Pierpont Beach--are being considered as sites for an experimental sand-pumping project aimed at ending years of erosion.

But a group of city and county representatives involved with the project first has to find $1.3 million to finance it.

The experimental project involves pumping 250,000 cubic yards of sand out of offshore deposits and placing it in shallow waters so that waves can take it to the beach.

The technology has been tested extensively on the East Coast but only sparingly in the West Coast off the shores of San Diego.

The group behind the project is called BEACON, an acronym for Beach Erosion Authority for Control Operations and Nourishment, and represents five coastal cities and the counties of Ventura and Santa Barbara.

Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D--Carpinteria) is spearheading fund-raising efforts at the state level, and has asked that funds be set aside for the beach erosion projects in bond proposals under consideration in Sacramento.

But the likelihood of funds being available any time soon is less than 50-50 at this point, said O’Connell aide Carla Frisk.

“We’re just holding our breath,” she said. “Everybody is open to the idea. It’s just a question of whether it will end up n the November ballot.”

BEACON chairwoman Dorothy Maron, an Oxnard councilwoman, said Oxnard Shores is the preferred alternative for the experiment, but the group will make a final decision in July.

Besides the two Ventura County beaches, Goleta Beach and Padaro Lane Beach in Santa Barbara County are also under consideration as possible sites for the erosion project.

On April 10, a public hearing will be held at Carpinteria City Hall to discuss an environmental study on the project.

BEACON was formed in 1986 to study ways of halting beach erosion in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. In addition to the two counties, the cities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Ventura, Oxnard and Port Hueneme are part of the group.

A 1989 BEACON study concluded that the beaches of Ventura County had shrunk 60% in size, said James Bailard, a coastal oceanographer who is BEACON’s technical adviser.

“The main reason for this erosion is the damming and gravel-mining operations on the Santa Clara River and its tributaries,” Bailard said.

“Thirty years ago, Oxnard Shores beach was 425 feet wide,” Maron said. “Our beaches provide recreation that doesn’t cost money, and we have to do something to protect them.”

The 1989 report found eight beaches with high erosion rates: Goleta Beach, Padaro Lane Beach, Carpinteria Beach and Hope Ranch Beach in Santa Barbara County; and Faria Beach, Ventura River West Beach, Pierpont Beach and Oxnard Shores Beach in Ventura County, said Mary Meaney Reichel, BEACON’s environmental coordinator.

Of those eight beaches, four were chosen for further study based on the degree of erosion, closeness to sandbanks and possible damage to wildlife if sand were brought in from offshore, Reichel said.

Of the four, the environmental report names Goleta Beach as the least likely to benefit from an erosion project because it is the most biologically prolific, it is located the farthest from a sandbank and it is the most frequently used by people.

“The other three are very close,” Reichel said. “Oxnard Shores is the environmentally superior alternative, but we have to consider the technical feasibility of the project. It’s a little too early to say for sure.”

Maron, however, said she has received a verbal commitment from her BEACON colleagues to support selecting Oxnard Shores for the experiment.

“That was the agreement,” she said. “I hope we don’t have to fight it out” at the July meeting where the issue will be resolved.

Regardless which location is chosen, beach experts say the project is worthy of support and funding. But it is not the final solution to the county’s beach-erosion problems, they say.

“I’m very familiar with the concept and I think it’s a great idea,” said consulting engineer Phil White, who has worked for BEACON in the past. “But the long-range solution is to get sand mining out of the river.”

Gerard Kapuscik, general manager of the Channel Islands Community Services District, said, “BEACON’s efforts are laudable.”

But, he added, “It will be very expensive to replenish beaches artificially. It’s far more expensive than to stop damming the river and let the natural process follow its course.”