Debris-Filled Sand to Be Removed

Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday called for the immediate removal of thousands of cubic yards of dirt and sand that was mixed with construction debris and dumped on Will Rogers State Beach last month as part of a county-approved sand replenishment project.

Neighbors have complained strenuously about the project, which officials with the county’s Department of Beaches and Harbors defended as a routine attempt to add sand to an eroded beach. The 4,000 cubic yards of material came from a Playa del Rey development site and included large chunks of ragged concrete, brick and glass.

“This is an outrage,” Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Tuesday. “Sand replenishment is about replenishing sand with sand, not sand with construction debris.”

Yaroslavsky made a motion directing county staff to tell the Playa del Rey developer to cart the sand away. It passed unanimously.

The developer, Westport Playa Sol, would not comment Tuesday.

County workers have been trying to pick the chunks of debris from the sand since residents began complaining about it in late September.

The Department of Beaches and Harbors previously said that once the chunks were out, the rest eventually would become sand.

On Tuesday, officials would not reiterate that position. “The supervisors have told us to take the material off the beach, and we’re just going to comply with that,” said Kerry Gottleib, chief deputy director of the department.