Beach study to chart sand movement

Just like the rest of California, bits of Newport Beach could be

falling into the ocean. Or maybe, as some people believe, the city’s

beaches are getting wider.

To find out which is the case, the city has commissioned a new

study, which will chart the movement of sand along the Newport

coastline.

The City Council on Tuesday agreed to hire Long Beach firm Moffatt

& Nichol to conduct the study of West Newport, the Balboa Peninsula

and Big Corona for $48,614.

There’s a wealth of data floating around on beach widths and

erosion, but this will be the first comprehensive study of sand

movement in Newport Beach, city public works director Steve Badum

said.

“I don’t think the average person really understands that that

sand is moving all the time, and without the additional sources of

sand coming into our system, our beaches would deplete,” he said.

“The sand that you see out there today isn’t the sand that’s out

there tomorrow.”

Big storms can scour sand off the beaches, and they sometimes

flood the parking lot by the Newport Pier -- in fact, that happened

in mid-September. To prevent beaches from shrinking over time, the

city has since the 1960s been part of a federal replenishment project

that dumps sand in the waters off of Seal Beach and Sunset Beach,

assistant city manager Dave Kiff said.

Some of the sand gets carried by winter storms down to Newport,

where it washes up onshore. That project is undertaken every five to

seven years. The city also sporadically does its own smaller

replenishments, trucking sand from other projects onto beaches and

smoothing it, Kiff said.

But not everyone wants more sand. In August 2004, the Army Corps

of Engineers planned to dredge sand from the Santa Ana River and

spread it onto the beach in West Newport, but residents objected so

strongly that the corps agreed to use a pipe to pump it offshore

instead.

One of those residents was Jim Brooks, who lives on Seashore

Drive. Citing a 2003 study by the corps, Brooks said beaches in West

Newport have gotten about four feet wider every year over the last

several decades.

“There may be an occasional retreat in an area, but as a rule, the

whole beach has grown over time,” Brooks said.

The new study will give the city a clearer idea of what has

happened to the beaches over the years and what’s likely to happen in

the future.

It’s also expected to help the public understand when and why

beach replenishment may be necessary, Kiff said.

“We assume these projects are working, and they’re good, and some

of the residents have said they’re not good, and they’re not needed,”

he said.

Results of the study could be ready by April 2006.

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* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

o7alicia.robinson@latimes.comf7.