NEWPORT BEACH : Sand to Be Shipped In for Section of Beach

A section of the shoreline in west Newport Beach will get a deposit of about 150,000 cubic yards of sand this fall in an effort to slow the beach’s erosion.

“We had, last January, probably the narrowest beach we’ve had in 30 years at 36th Street,” Public Works Director Don Webb said.

The problem has been most concentrated between 36th and 42nd Streets in west Newport, where homes nearly washed away in 1963. But to some extent, the beach has been continuously eroding from Newport Pier to 56th Street.

Since 1963, the city has participated in a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state and county, the city of Huntington Beach and the Surfside Colony Storm Water Protection District. That project is in its 10th phase. The Corps has put 1.7 million cubic yards of sand in Newport Beach and another 6.6 million cubic yards at Sunset Beach.

The theory behind the long-term erosion control program is to put the bulk of the sand below the mouth of Anaheim Bay, where currents will wash it southward and control erosion down the coast.

In this $10.6-million phase, the corps will take 150,000 cubic yards of sand for Newport Beach from 1.5 million cubic yards to be placed at Sunset Beach. Newport Beach’s share of the cost will be just under $190,000.

The City Council unanimously approved the project Monday. Councilwoman Janice A. DeBay said she would organize community meetings in her west Newport district before the three-month operation begins.

Movable Beach

The Army Corps of Engineers will dredge sand from the area between the Santa Ana River and 60th Street and move it to the narrow beach between the Newport Pier parking lot and 56th Street, where winter storms have eroded the shoreline.