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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-06-28; Beach Preservation Committee; MinutesCARLSBAD BEACH EROSION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES MEETING DATE: JUNE 28, 1990 The Carlsbad Beach Erosion Committee was called to order by Chairman Monroy at 6:00 P.M., Thursday, June 28, 1990, in the City Council Chambers, 1200 Elm Avenue, Carlsbad, California. Members in Attendance: Mario Monroy, Chairman Barry Noble Gary Nessim Pearl Johnson Don Jackson Dave Copley Sally Vigil City Staff in Attendance: Members Absent: Barry Noble Others in Attendance: Joe Vigil Dr. Choule Sonu, Tekmarine John Cahill, Municipal Projects Manager Gary Kellison, Associate Civil Engineer Dennis Turner, Principal Planner AGENDA TOPICS 1. Chairman Monroy introduced the meeting minutes of April 26, 1990, which were subsequently reviewed and approved by the Committee members. 2. Proposed SDG&E Expansion at Encina a. The California Energy Commission (CEC) will hold a public hearing from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on July 17 at the Safety Center application. on SDG&E's Notice of Intent (NOI) Dennis Turner explained the remaining steps in the NOI process and the role of the City's environmental consultants. The CEC has already sent SDG&E 188 requests for data. The last set of data requests originated by the City of Carlsbad will be forwarded tomorrow. This will close the data collection phase of the NOI process. The second phase is for interested parties to submit position papers. The first set is due on July 16. The third phase is an adjudication process, which includes a review and cross-examination of the experts of both sides. MEETING MINUTES/BEACH EROSION ACTION COMMITTEE Page 2 The City's consultant on the NOI process is Tetratech. The firm started its research and data collection effort four (4) weeks ago. The consultant's second task is to meet with City staff to discuss strategy. These meetings are occurring now. The third task will be to review the utility company's responses to the City's position papers. The City may also hire Tetratech to prepare an environmental document if it is necessary to support Carlsbad's position papers. Dennis Turner provided the Committee some discouraging news about the CEC's deliberations. The two (2) desert sites have been removed from the review process. This leaves the three (3) coastal sites—Encina, Chula Vista, and NAS Miramar. The Navy is strongly opposing the Miramar site. Dennis also said that the major issue that seems to be emerging is air quality. Air pollution from the proposed plant expansion would tend to favor siting in a relatively clean air basin such as north San Diego County. The CEC has not yet accepted the idea that the cumulative environmental impact of all five (5) generating units at Encina should be considered. The CEC takes the existing Encina facility as the baseline by which environmental impacts will be measured. The power plant approval process is entirely exempted from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The NOI process has similar requirements, but the necessary findings are more lenient. The best chance of derailing a Carlsbad site selection would be to demonstrate impacts that cannot be mitigated. These could be loss of beach sand, cooling water destruction of sea life, or adverse changes in the coastal ocean current circulation. Raising an issue such as seismic hazard would not stop the plant's expansion because SDG&E can easily propose a mitigation, i.e., build a stronger structure. On a hopeful note, Dennis Turner announced that the State is holding a meeting on July 16, in San Diego, to consider alternatives to building new plant capacity. City staff will be meeting with Tetratech to discuss the technical issues that need to be developed to oppose the Encina plant. Chairman Monroy expressed the idea that Dr. Sonu should meet with the Tetratech staff to discuss the beach erosion data that is available. Dr. Sonu agreed with the suggestion. c. The Committee suggested that SDG&E be required to get a grading permit from the City in order to dredge. The Committee also expressed the thought that a new letter stating their opposition to the SDG&E expansion be sent to the City Council members. MEETING MINUTES/BEACH EROSION ACTION COMMITTEE Page 3 3. Report by Dr. Choule Sonu a. Dr. Sonu prefaced his report on the spring sand survey with some observations on the sand bypass operating across Oceanside Harbor. The harbor structure shelters the sand on the north side from erosion. The wide beach is produced by deposits from the San Luis Rey River. The Tyson Street discharge point is not far enough south. Dr. Sonu believes most of the sand is washed back into the harbor because the currents seasonally move northward when Oceanside is performing the annual dredging. A recent study at Santa Barbara indicates that harbor structures adversely affect beach sand levels far down the coast. Similar impacts from Oceanside's harbor may have caused beach sand disappearance in south Carlsbad. As a point of information, it was noted that the latest Batiquitos Lagoon dredging plan by CH2M Hill proposes two (2) discharge points—one at Batiquitos and the other at Encinas Creek. b. Dr. Sonu presented his report on the spring sand survey. Beach profile data at the surveyed locations show that no significant change occurred. The meeting was adjourned by Chairman Monroy at 7:45 p.m. Future discussion items will include an update of the NOI process and the new draft of the Batiquitos Lagoon EIR. GARY KELLISON Associate Civil Engineer for JOHN J. CAHILL Municipal Projects Manager Secretary, Beach Erosion Committee GK:JJC:jkb Distribution: Beach Erosion Committee Members Mayor and City Council Members City Manager Assistant City Manager Community Development Director City Engineer Research Manager Assistant Director of Planning Dennis Turner, Principal Planner