By Nathan Scharn
The City Council has decided to use $65,000 for a regional project that would replenish sand on county beaches. The San Diego Association of Governments, the region’s planning agency, is handling most of the work. The city money will be used to monitor the project’s biological effects on the shoreline, manage construction and acquire permits.
The replenishment project is in its second phase. The first was completed in 2001 and placed nearly 2.1 million cubic yards of sand on county beaches.
The $21 million second phase is mostly covered by a $19 million grant from the state Department of Boating and Waterways. The rest will be split proportionally between Imperial Beach, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside.
The second phase will add between 1.8 and 2.7 million cubic yards of sand on the beaches.
Carlsbad set aside $1.5 million for the second phase in 2007, and still has $1.3 million of that to contribute for future phases, a staff report said. Last week’s move brings the total Carlsbad contribution for the current replenishment project to about $180,000.
The replenishment project is in its planning stages, and the new sand isn’t expected to hit beaches until 2012.
The sand would come from three offshore dredging sites.
