Laguna Beach declares local emergency due to coastal erosion, sand loss
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Laguna Beach on Thursday declared a local state of emergency, citing coastal erosion and sand loss from the effects of a south swell event brought on by Hurricane Marie.
The community has experienced the strong ocean water conditions since Sept. 2, with authorities last week making the decision to close the parking lot at Aliso Beach after its partial failure.
City Manager Dave Kiff, who declared the local state of emergency, said in a phone interview Friday the damage to public infrastructure at the Aliso Beach parking lot, which remains closed, could be roughly estimated at about $500,000.
In a news release issued Thursday night, city officials said six oceanfront homes along Lagunita Drive and Ocean Way had been yellow-tagged, allowing for only limited access, due to compromised seawalls.
The south end of Lagunita Beach, Pearl Street Beach and the footpath at Christmas Cove have also been temporarily closed.
A declaration of a local state of emergency may be called by the city manager, Kiff said, but it would take a city council vote to extend it beyond the initial seven days.
A special City Council meeting has been scheduled for Monday at 3:30 p.m. to consider ratification of the decision to proclaim a local emergency.
“I’d been chatting with other cities and city managers up and down the coast, and I think we all had different levels of damage,” Kiff said. “I think Laguna’s was among the greatest, or most significant, but everybody talked about concern about sand and sand replenishment. They do have sand replenishment projects, from Newport to Huntington to Seal Beach, and then there’s some further down south.
“Laguna’s never needed it, and we still may not need it, but I thought I’d hate to not let our partnering regional agencies and the state know that this is a concern, because nobody’s ever seen the scouring of sand that we saw here, and that if the sand isn’t just sitting in the nearshore zone and comes back, then we have a problem.”
The declaration can help the city if it needs assistance bringing in sand or permitting to move sand more effectively, said Kiff, who added the city’s beaches are “essential to the regional economy.”
Water conditions during south swell events, authorities said, move sand to the north. Main Beach is reflective of that right now, marine safety chief Kai Bond said.
“The profile of our beaches are constantly changing,” Bond said. “It just happened to be more extreme at this period, and it does cause coastal erosion in those areas. It affects the way that our waves break, it affects the way that our water comes up onto the beach, and things like flooding the Aliso Beach parking lot can occur when there’s less sand.”
City officials also referenced a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report that projects a strong El Niño in the fall and winter seasons, which would likely bring above-average rainfall.
“If we were in a position where our shoreline is not in its normal state,” Kiff said, “I think there’s an unpredictability that those new storms would bring that could further damage both private and public infrastructure.”
Orange County officials announced the emergency operations center would be activated Friday, after Dana Point also proclaimed a local state of emergency.
“Our coastal cities are experiencing serious damage, and the county is mobilizing our emergency response,” Orange County Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Katrina Foley said in a statement. “With both Laguna Beach and Dana Point proclaiming local emergencies, the county activated our emergency operations center to coordinate resources and support our cities. I requested the county proclaim a local emergency, so we can respond quickly, document the full extent of the damage, and pursue every available source of recovery assistance.”
