On Wednesday, November 20, 2024, the City Council voted unanimously to approve the siting recommendation for the “Living Speed Bumps” concept. This innovative concept involves building two small headlands, now determined to be located at Tyson Street Park and at Wisconsin Avenue, and an offshore artificial reef situated between the headlands. The “Living Speed Bumps” pilot project aims to restore and preserve sand on Oceanside beaches south of the Pier with an innovative method that emerged from the RE:BEACH Oceanside International Design Competition.
“By piloting this project, the City is taking proactive measures to responsibly address both chronic coastal erosion and sea level rise along the shoreline, while adding another coastal management tool to the toolbox,” said Jayme Timberlake, Coastal Zone Administrator for the City. “The selected location will allow for the benefits to be fully showcased, performance goals to be met most efficiently and will enable a more predictable timeline for implementation.”
The concept adopts an approach to work with coastal processes through mimicking natural coastal features in California, such as headlands and reefs. Just like in nature, these features are expected to dampen the erosion of sand from the beach and from the sandbars, which increases the efficiency of sand management activities and prolongs the retention of placed sand along the shoreline.
To determine the location for this pilot project, a robust siting analysis took place over the summer and involved a dissection of the elements that will be involved in implementing an innovative project of this nature along the coastline. The multi-criteria analysis looked intricately at existing beach amenities, like restrooms, parking spaces and public transit access, assessed risk for installing a novel sand retention mechanism, reviewed private and public property expanse, assessed surf resources and their use, and reviewed biological sensitivities, among other factors. These criteria were scored across three of the more eroded segments on Oceanside’s coast, with the highest scores occurring between Tyson Street Park and Wisconsin Avenue.
In addition to a thorough review of the criteria required for project implementation, the decision to site the pilot project comes after several months of ongoing public engagement, which assisted the project team in both refining the assessment criteria and the scores for each assessed segment.
Stay updated on the progress of the “Living Speed Bumps” project through the City’s RE:BEACH website at rebeach.org.
