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W E DN E S DAY, F E BRUA RY 3 , 2 0 21
The future of Goleta Beach Park County officials organize plans to prevent further damage to beach
State shortage affects SB County vaccinations By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS
As sea-level rise and beach erosion threaten the coastline at Goleta Beach Park, local officials are discussing what can be done to preserve the future of the site that welcomes more than 1.5 million visitors annually.
By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
Local officials are discussing what can be done to preserve the future of Goleta Beach Park as a rise in sea-level and erosion threatens to push the coastline inward and damage infrastructure over the next few decades. Santa Barbara County Parks Division, in conjunction with Caltrans, is working to create an adaptive management plan that will address erosion threats to Goleta Beach Park and its surrounding infrastructure for the years to come. The county held a public meeting last week to discuss the plan’s development and receive public feedback. With more than 1.5 million visitors each year, the Goleta Beach Park is a key coastal access point for many lowincome families and minority communities, Marie Laule, county consultant from Wood Environment and Infrastructure Solutions, said. “Goleta Beach plays an important role in recreational, environmental and social equity values,” Ms. Laule said, later adding that the county’s objective is to maintain the recreation resources at the park for years to come. A combination of extended drought, severe storms and rising sea levels have contributed to the erosion at the Goleta Beach coast. The historic drought that lasted from 2011 to 2019 largely eliminated natural nourishment and sediment flow to the beach for eight years. These conditions, compounded with severe storms between 2014 and 2017, caused beach erosion between 100 to 180 feet and damaged the park and its facilities. The erosion has made Goleta Beach Park much narrower than it once was. Without a sand barrier for protection, key infrastructure around the beach, like State Route 217 and Goleta
STEVE MALONE / NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO
Officials say studies have proven that the revetments are the most effective way to prevent beach erosion, however, a number of event attendees voiced disagreement. Shown here is a truck dumping soil at Goleta Beach as dozers work to push it into the ocean.
Sanitary Districts’ sewer outfall pipe, could be in jeopardy. In an effort to protect the beach from further damage, the county installed rock revetments at Goleta Beach park in 2017 to prevent further erosion. Moving forward, the county is now working to create a longterm adaptive management plan through 2050 and 2100 that will use sea-level rise data from Noble research to inform its decision making. As part of the tentative plan for 2050, the county is considering retaining rock revetments for the next 30 years, pursuing landward relocation for major infrastructure near Goleta Beach Park and pursuing sand retention and beach nourishment measures. Since the plan is adaptive, Ms. Laule emphasized that plans may change as new data is discovered. “The decisions we make in the near term play a crucial role in determining what our suite
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of options are for long-term management,” Ms. Laule said. In her presentation, Ms. Laule said studies have proven that the revetments are the most effective way to prevent beach erosion, however, a number of event attendees voiced disagreement. A number of commenters argued that revetments have long-term impacts on the environment, and therefore, should not be a viable solution. “Rock revetments do cause impacts to the beach and to the habitat, as well as public access,” Brian Trautwein, environmental analyst at the Environmental Defense Center, said during the Q&A session. “Various experts have commented on this over the years and demonstrated that these impacts do occur. They’re real. They cause impacts to the beach width and to the biology of the area.” Paul Alessio, a UCSB geologist and coastal researcher, echoed a similar sentiment and urged
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email: mhirneisen@newspress.com
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Portions of Highway 101 were shut down Tuesday morning in the Carpinteria area following a big-rig crash.
Big-rig crash gridlocks traffic By MITCHELL WHITE NEWS-PRESS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Motorists traveling north Tuesday morning on Highway 101 in the Carpinteria area were greeted with a multi-hour traffic jam after a tanker truck overturned. The tanker overturned just before 5 a.m. Tuesday on the 101 just south of the Santa Ynez Avenue overcrossing. A freightliner tractor trailer made an unsafe turning movement, veered to the right and collided with the guardrail and the side portion of the concrete overcrossing, according to the California Highway Patrol. “The truck continued in a northeasterly direction across the right shoulder and through a fence which separates the U.S. 101 Northbound lanes from residences in Carpinteria,” Officer Shannan Sams, CHP spokesman, said in a statement. The tractor came to rest within a private driveway on Cramer Circle, and the trailer came to rest on its left side on the right shoulder of the north side of the 101. The driver, 24-year-old Martin Garcia, of Mexico, suffered minor
injuries and was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, the CHP said. No other vehicles were involved in the crash, the cause of which remains under investigation. The north side of the 101 was shut down for several hours following the crash. Initially, the overturned truck partially blocked the No. 2 northbound lane just south of Santa Monica Road in Carpinteria. Caltrans crews were joined on scene by the CHP and a hazardous materials team, according to Jim Shivers, Caltrans District 5 spokesman. By 7:30 a.m., all northbound lanes were shut down after the truck leaked fuel and spilled its load of fertilizer, Mr. Shivers said on Twitter. Around 10 a.m., the big rig was being lifted upright and was eventually towed from the area. All northbound lanes were reopened by 3 p.m., Mr. Shivers said. The crash affected the morning commute for many, resulting in standstill traffic for multiple hours as crews worked to assess the situation and conduct cleanup. email: mwhite@newspress.com
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the county to consider the use of cobble berms at Goleta Beach, a solution he said would be more effective and ecological. “I just got to say that I think a cobble berm at Goleta Beach would be a potential solution. It’s a solution that a lot of people are using and using effectively and even at Goleta beach now,” Mr. Alessio said. “The (cobble berm) has survived the most recent winter swells.” Looking towards 2100, the county is considering various possibilities, like reinforcing the revetment to protect the park in its current state, relocating the park onto a pier, enforcing a managed retreat to remove half the park or relocating the park to another point on the coast. For the time, Ms. Laule expressed that these ideas are simply considerations and options for 80 years in the future. Still, event attendees had their reservations about the county’s tentative plans. “I think it’s really oversimplifying to say that we have over 80 years that we can maintain Goleta Beach the way it is — I just don’t believe that,” Rachel Couch, a project manager at State Coastal Conservancy, said. “I think we have to plan for the interim, and revetments are not the total answer.” The county plans to take public concerns into consideration while drafting the adaptive management plan, which is expected to release its first public draft in the spring. County officials are hopeful the final draft of the plan can be completed by the summer. Officials are seeking additional input through the Goleta Beach Visitor Survey. To view the survey in English, visit https:// www.surveymonkey.com/r/ goletabeachsurvey. To view the survey in Spanish, visit https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/ goletabeachencuesta.
Although COVID-19 cases throughout Santa Barbara County continue to decline, the county Public Health Department continues to face a vaccination shortage. The county is currently vaccinating residents 75 years of age and older, as well as health care and emergency services employees. California Department of Public Health’s guidance is to vaccinate 65 and older, but because of the scarcity of vaccines, Santa Barbara County officials decided to focus on the most vulnerable. Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso said Cottage Health has a vaccine waitlist of around 11,000, and Sansum Clinic has 8,000 eligible recipients on its list. Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria is accepting vaccination appointments. The county doesn’t have enough allocated yet to fulfill the waitlists. If it didn’t receive any more weekly shipments from the state, it would not have enough to give the second doses to previous patients (a highly unlikely scenario explored in the Board of Supervisors meeting). “California is getting less than 600,000 doses a week to distribute.
So that’s a pretty finite, very limited number, that they are then distributing to the counties. And so all counties are feeling the scarcity of vaccines,” she said. Approximately 6,000 doses are shipped to Santa Barbara County each week. Some counties received notice from the state that they will receive fewer shipments until they speed up distribution. Santa Barbara County was not one of the penalized counties. She also mentioned that those who have recently overcome COVID-19 can delay getting a vaccine. Others without antibodies would then be able to get the vaccine sooner. Santa Barbara County’s case rate, adjusted by the state, is 47.2 daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents. Elementary schools can reopen when the rate reaches 25, and the county would reach the red tier when the county’s case rate is at or below seven per 100,000 residents. “We’re seeing a downward trend in our adjusted case rate at 47.2 daily new cases per 100,000,” Dr. Do-Reynoso said. “However, I just want to underscore that this is still at a very unacceptable, high level. And it describes that we are still besieged by COVID-19.” The Santa Barbara County Please see vaccines on A7
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Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 1-6-13-19-45 Meganumber: 12
Tuesday’s DAILY 4: 7-9-7-0
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 13-37-38-40-67 Meganumber: 10
Tuesday’s FANTASY 5: 4-9-18-24-35
Tuesday’s DAILY DERBY: 01-10-11 Time: 1:41.61
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Tuesday’s DAILY 3: 8-8-7 / Sunday’s Midday 6-5-1