115,000 Tons of Sand OKd for Seal Beach

SEAL BEACH —  Trains and trucks laden with 115,000 tons of sand will begin rolling to Seal Beach’s coastline early next week in an attempt to replace what Mother Nature keeps taking away.

In the wake of last week’s flooding, the California Coastal Commission on Monday granted emergency approval for crews to bring the sand to the city’s depleted shoreline.

Officials said they expect the sand replenishment project to begin early next week and take two to three months to complete.

The emergency permit was granted by the commission’s executive director after last week’s storm and unexpected surf at high tide caused flooding to several beachfront homes and swamped oceanfront streets and driveways.

An 8-foot dike that was hastily built during Thursday’s storm will be augmented with an estimated $1.1 million in large grain sand that will arrive by rail from a Palmdale quarry. The state will pay $813,000 and the city of Seal Beach will pay the remainder.

“The permit was granted because the city satisfied our concerns,” said John Auyong, a coastal commission staff analyst. “Also, we can’t grant an emergency permit without a bona fide emergency, and the flooding constituted an emergency.”

Chris Webb, a coastal scientist with consultants Moffatt & Nichol Engineers of Long Beach, said that crews used existing beach sand to build the dike last week. Much of the new sand will be used to replace the beach’s base, he said.

Seal Beach crews every year build a sand dike before the rainy season to keep waves from swamping homes and businesses. Last week’s surf, with crests as high as 20 feet, hit Seal Beach before the seasonal dike was in place.

Construction on the annual retaining wall was scheduled to begin in mid-October, pending coastal commission approval.

The new large grain sand, much of which was purchased through a state grant, will keep high tides out of homeowners’ living rooms and should last longer than the finer grades currently used.

The sand will be transported into the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station by train, with one trainload expected each week, Webb said.

City Manager Keith Till predicted during the storm last week that even if city crews had put the dike in place, it wouldn’t have held back the high tides and ocean swells.

“This was a real early one,” Webb said. “And a real surprise for me.”

The new sand will be used to build the beach level to about 10 feet above sea level. The retaining wall will be another 8 feet high, Webb said.