Could surf waves break again in Long Beach?

Long Beach is a step closer to finding out what Army Corps will recommend, it’s a four-year environmental and scientific study.

Mayor Robert Garcia announced and presented the East San Pedro Bay Ecosystem Restoration Feasibly Study Draft Alternatives. The Army Corps is currently soliciting public feedback related to Port Navigation relative to the Draft Alternatives and wave modeling. If you are interested in providing feedback to the Army Corps for their Port Navigation Analysis, please visit the following link to answer specific questions related to Port Navigation only, www.surveymonkey.com/r/EastSanPedroBayQuestionnaire. For community members interested in providing general feedback on this study, and/or participating in the formal public comment period, that process will begin in early 2019.

Mayor Robert Garcia and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed the Federal Cost Share Agreement in 2016 to begin the East San Pedro Bay Ecosystem Restoration Study, which is the first open ocean ecosystem restoration study to use the Army Corps new 3x3x3 feasibility study model. The purpose of the study is to estimate the benefits associated with the restoration of ecosystem habitats as well as to evaluate the impacts of alternatives on offshore and nearshore resources. The final recommendations of the study will form the basis of a plan to restore and improve the aquatic ecosystem structure and function for increased habitat biodiversity within the East San Pedro Bay.

The East San Pedro Bay has long been a topic of discussion since 2005, when City Council Members voted to conduct a reconnaissance study. The City appropriated $100,000 in 2007 to determine whether congressional leaders and the Army Corps had any interest in the East San Pedro Bay. By 2010 the Army Corps had officially determined that there was “federal interest” in moving forward with an ecosystem restoration feasibility study, however, federal budget constraints prevented the Army Corps from receiving federal funding to begin the study. With public interest in the study still strong, in 2013 City Council budgeted $1.5 million in funding and voted to contribute $750,000 to the Army Corps for a portion of federal study costs.

The six draft alternatives that will be included in the formal Integrated Feasibility Report (IFR) for the East San Pedro Bay Ecosystem Restoration Study will be presented at a public meeting on:

Wednesday, October 10 @ 5:30 p.m.
Bixby Park Community Center
130 Cherry Ave, Long Beach, CA 90802

The community is invited to attend this informational meeting. As the environmental review process is just getting underway, detailed information about environmental impacts are not available at this time. The City and the Army Corps expect to complete the IFR process in 2019 upon which detailed information will be made available, and a formal public comment period will open.