County Considers Berm for High Tides

Fearing high tides and heavy winter surf will erode one of the county’s most vulnerable beaches and endanger homes there, county officials are exploring whether to construct a sand berm nearly a mile long on Silver Strand Beach.

Lyn Krieger, Channel Islands Harbor director, told county supervisors during an El Nino preparedness presentation Tuesday that the narrow strip of beach just south of Channel Islands Harbor may need a sand berm to fend off unruly seas.

Though it is too soon to know how large and where the berm should be placed, officials are looking at Santa Clara Street--about the center of Silver Strand Beach--as the most critical area. The berm, which would be constructed by the county Fire Department, likely would extend in each direction for a total of about three-quarters of a mile, she said.

“Silver Strand and Hollywood beaches have historically been impacted by high surf and high tides,” said Fire Department spokeswoman Sandi Wells, who added that any work would be conducted in an ecologically sound manner.

Krieger said that Hollywood Beach, just across the harbor mouth from Silver Strand, gets broader each year and contains enough sand that officials will not likely need to build a berm there.

Still, with the biggest storms from the El Nino weather phenomenon not expected until at least late December, Krieger said the question facing officials is the timing of the construction.

If built too soon, the berm could be eroded by the ocean, leaving too little sand on the beach to fortify the wall of sand if and when severe ocean swells descend on the popular beach.

Still, Supervisor John K. Flynn, who first asked county staff to explore the idea of a berm weeks ago, said officials should be careful not to wait too long, a mistake that has hurt the county in the past.

“Every time it’s different,” he said. “Every situation is different. Back in the early ‘80s, we should have built it about a week earlier.”