Sand renewal project OKd

Paul Clinton

WEST NEWPORT -- To replenish the sand here and at other county

beaches, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the

most recent phase of a project started in the 1960s.

The $12.7 million will dump 1.75 million cubic yards of sand off

Sunset Beach. The sand is then carried via underwater currents and

deposited along Huntington Beach and West Newport.

Newport Beach officials were enthused about the board’s approval of

the project, for which the city will kick in $214,971.

“We wouldn’t have the good sandy beaches in West Newport that we have

today if it weren’t for this project,” Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff

said.

The City Council approved the contribution Aug. 28.

Supervisor Jim Silva has said the project is needed to protect the

health and property of county residents from thedamaging effects of

erosion.

The latest project is the 11th phase of a sand replenishment program

that the Army Corps of Engineers began in 1962.

The project was a response to the construction of several flood

control channels by the corps in the early 1960s in Long Beach and

Anaheim Bay that disrupted the natural replenishment process.

The corps undertakes a project about every five years to prevent

beaches from becoming rocky and uninviting to tourists. The last effort

was in 1997.

The sand is carried from Sunset Beach to the northerly jetty at The

Wedge.

A group of local and state agencies have chipped in a third of the

cost of the replenishment. Newport Beach is sharing that $4.1-million

piece with Huntington Beach, the state Department of Boating and

Waterways, and the county’s Department of Harbors, Beaches and Parks.

The federal cut of the money, secured by Reps. Chris Cox and Dana

Rohrabacher via appropriations bills, would be about $8.5 million.

Since the project began, more than 2.1 million cubic yards of sand has

been deposited on the beach in West Newport, city records show.

More than 2 million people visit sections of Newport’s beaches each

year.