LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST CITY FOR CA COASTAL ACT VIOLATIONS - AUGUST, 2011

California Coastal Protection Network (CCPN) has filed a lawsuit against the City of San Francisco for continued violations against the Coastal Act over the past 17 years for the illegal dumping of rock and unpermitted conrete and other debris on the shore at Ocean Beach. This dumping has been a shortsighted reaction to coastal erosion and sea level rise issues, compounded by the placement of infrastructure and development too close to the shore.

> Read more about the lawsuit.

 

VICTORY FOR SLOAT - JULY, 2011

In July, the Coastal Commission voted to deny the City of SF Department of Public Works permit for after-the-fact rock revetment and further coastal armoring in the Sloat area of Ocean Beach.The Commission denied the permit unanimously.

> Read more about this recent victory for Sloat.

 

SAVE SLOAT! UPDATE - MARCH 8, 2011

In June of 2010, an effort was launched to create a Master Plan for Ocean Beach, which will provide a long-term vision for the area. SPUR, a San Francisco based public policy think tank is leading the creation of the Ocean Beach Master Plan with funding from the State Coastal Conservancy, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and the National Park Service. SPUR has organized planning meetings since June, as well several successful community workshops. The Ocean Beach Master Plan is anticipated to be completed in December of 2011.

To find out more about the process to create the Ocean Beach Master Plan, upcoming events, and the opportunity to provide public comment, please visit Spur's Ocean Beach website.

Also, read this recent SF Chronicle article "SF Ocean Beach preservation plan to be shored up." Executive Director Dean LaTourrette advocates the need to create a long-term plan to the address threats to infrastructure while protecting the beach and public access.

Stay tuned for the California Coastal Commission to address the City of San Francisco's application for the expansion of armoring at Sloat (read more below). We will provide information as it becomes available.

 

Save The Waves Executive Director Dean LaTourrette speaks on CBS5 News about Sloat:

PREVIOUS NEWS - December 12, 2010:

The City of San Francisco has recently applied for a permit with the CA Coastal Commission to significantly expand the amount of armoring at Sloat, without adequately exploring viable alternatives, nor working in concert with a more sensible long term visioning process, which is already under way and being driven by SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association).

Save The Waves is currently reviewing the application, which is slated to go before the Coastal Commission sometime in Spring 2011. The Coastal Commission has the power to decline this permit, while also stipulating strict mitigation measures for prior damage that SF’s Department of Public Works has already done to the beach at Sloat for the past two decades.

The Coastal Commission’s December meeting is in San Francisco this coming Wed-Fri, December 15-17, at SF City Hall. While the application for work at Sloat won’t be on the CCC agenda until later this coming spring, Save The Waves and Surfrider SF are still asking concerned citizens to voice their opposition. Here's what you can do:

1) Send a pre-drafted letter to the Coastal Commission by clicking on the following link, hard copies of all letters will be presented to the Coastal Commission this Thursday: http://action.surfrider.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2842   Deadline: Tuesday, 12/14/10, 6pm.

2) Come to the Coastal Commission meeting in SF City Hall this Wed, Thurs or Fri, and make a public comment voicing your opposition to further coastal armoring at Sloat and Ocean Beach beyond a strict emergency, and push the CCC and the city of SF to evaluate sensible long term solutions, as well as clean up past rubble and debris as mitigation. Public comment will be Wed at 10am, Thurs & Fri at 9am. More info: http://www.coastal.ca.gov/mtgcurr.html

 

PREVIOUS NEWS - February 2010:

"Save Sloat!" Advocates Continue to Dispute Boulders on Beach in San Francisco

> Sign the petition to Save Sloat!

> Background information about the erosion & controversy at Sloat / Great Highway

 

February 3, 2010 - San Francisco, CA – After winning a crucial one-week delay on the City of San Francisco’s plans to dump giant boulders on Ocean Beach, local community advocates continue to make gains in their struggle to protect the south Sloat area of the beach and force a long-term solution to this decades-old problem.

At the San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday at City Hall, coastal advocates from Save The Waves and San Francisco Surfrider Foundation, as well as other local community leaders, argued that the City should not dump boulders on the beach to temporarily protect city infrastructure from erosion and rising sea levels.

Among other commitments to protect the coastal environment and the waves at Ocean Beach, Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Sean Elsbernd introduced a resolution that requires the city to limit the scope of its “emergency” repair work by minimizing the placement of boulders on the beach, analyze the use of existing rubble already on the beach to shore up the bluffs and control erosion, and commit all relevant parties to sit down and revisit the long-term solutions to the beach erosion problem. “Save Sloat!” advocates feel the long-term solution should focus on a managed retreat strategy, including removal of all past structures placed on the beach, restoration of eroded bluffs, prohibition of future hard structures used for erosion control, and the relocation of city infrastructure at risk from rising sea levels.

“While we never advocate the use of hard structures on the beach, we recognize that the City needs to address the immediate threat and are encouraged that they’ve agreed to limit the scope and look at moving existing rock that’s already on the beach to address the short-term problem,” says Dean LaTourrette, executive director of Save The Waves. “More importantly, we’ve convinced the City and others to immediately reinitiate a proactive planning process for a long-term, environmentally and financially beneficial solution, in the face of continued erosion and impending sea level rise.”

On January 15 the City of San Francisco declared a state of emergency at the Great Highway south of Sloat Boulevard to protect roadway and other infrastructure falling onto the beach due to large storms and rising sea levels. The city proposed the placement of large boulder structures on the beach to protect eroding areas, but local residents, surfers and coastal advocates pushed for a more environmentally friendly solution based on long-term recommendations submitted years ago by the Ocean Beach Task Force. 

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