Broad Beach Restoration

Broad Beach is one of the most recognizable shorefronts in the world, stretching from Northwest Los Angeles up through the City of Malibu. As celebrated as it is threatened, this California beach has suffered intense erosion for more than 30 years, exposing the coveted beachfront property along Broad Beach to flooding and damage during winter storms and high tides.

In late 2010, a consortium of affected property owners called the Trancas Property Owner’s Association submitted an application for Coastal Development for a $31 million permanent dune and beach restoration project. The resulting Broad Beach Geologic Hazard Abatement District (BBGHAD) proposed permanent placement of a rock revetment shoreline protection device, beach nourishment, and dune restoration to protect approximately 124 private property parcels and augment beach and dune resources. In October 2015, California Coastal Commission approved a Coastal Development Permit to create a new permanent rock revetment and 1.1-mile public beach, including a restored dune system. The permit issued by the commission was for 10 years, with the potential for an amendment every 10 years thereafter. Under the permit, a scientific advisory panel reviews exhaustive marine habitat monitoring and sampling plans to make sure the project will not have any significant adverse impacts to the beach.

Chambers Group has assisted with the analysis of marine biological resources issues stemming from this project effort, including intertidal and subtidal resource surveys, monitoring, and reporting. Although Chambers Group did not prepare the permits, these reports provide supporting documentation for the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Section 404 Permit and California Coastal Commission (CCC) Coastal Development Permit. Marine resources studied and monitored for biological assessment and regulatory permit needs included a range of species, including intertidal invertebrates, eelgrass, surfgrass, black abalone, grunion, and western snowy plover. In addition to the studies conducted at Broad Beach, Chambers Group has conducted a marine biological survey at three potential sand source sites off Manhattan Beach, Dockweiler Beach, and Venice Beach as well as inland review of three potential sand source sites in Moorpark. Chambers Group also reviewed the biological resources of Trancas Estuary/Lagoon and lower Trancas Creek. Chambers Group supported BBGHAD by providing the biological and cultural resources review to develop 1) a dune habitat restoration and monitoring program; 2) comprehensive monitoring and reporting program for beach profile characteristics, beach erosion rates, and affected resources; and 3) an adaptive management and reporting plan. In addition, Chambers Group assisted with the documents to acquire authorization for the Applicant’s proposed inland location of the relocated portion of the revetment.

Civic Center Master Plan and Building 16 Demolition

Civic Demolition often brings together multiple disciplines as far as permitting and planning are concerned. The County of Orange’s Civic Center Facilities Master Plan and Building 16 demolition was no exception:

In an effort to optimize use of County-owned property to better serve the community, the County of Orange proposed a phased implementation of its Civic Center Facilities Master Plan. As part of the effort to improve the campus functionality, six buildings were proposed for demolition, including the asbestos-laden, decrepit, long unoccupied Building 16 located at 601 N. Ross St in Santa Ana. The County’s goal was to demolish Building 16 and replace it with a six story, 251,000 square-foot facility designed to consolidate offices for Public Works, Waste & Recycling, and the Treasurer-Tax Collector.

Pursuant to Section 5024.1(g) of CEQA, Chambers Group staff evaluated the significance of multiple buildings under the Civic Center Facilities Master Plan in order to determine any potential adverse changes that the project may have on historical resources. As a result of the thorough investigation, including an assessment of historic integrity per California Register of Historical Resources (CRHR) guidelines, Chambers Group staff determined that no properties were present within the project area of potential effect (APE) that were historically significant. This meant that the project was not expected to directly or indirectly affect any CRHR-eligible historical resources or cause a substantial adverse change to historical resources as defined by CEQA, thereby opening the door for the next phase of the project.

Knowing that the County was eager to move ahead with demolition in order to build out the new headquarters for so much of the civic government, Chambers Group was able to prepare and deliver a CEQA compliant IS/MND within two and a half weeks of the notice to proceed. Additionally, Chambers Group expedited project review with the preparation of staff reports. All told, the MND completed public review within two months of submittal and was adopted by the Board of Supervisors less than two weeks after that.

National Forest Master Permit

The expansive Cleveland National Forest (CNF) spans both San Diego and Imperial Counties and is a vital area for SDG&E when it comes to multiple projects. Due to the number and scope of projects SDG&E has in the area, permitting and surveying proves to be challenging, and includes more than 70 previously issued special use permits. Chambers Group had a different approach, by working with SDG&E across an array of biological and planning resource areas in the effort to consolidate all permits into a Master Special Use Permit.

Specifically honing in on fire and public safety in the CNF, Chambers Group performed wildlife surveys, plant surveys, jurisdictional/wetland delineations, and vegetation mapping for all of the proposed project elements including existing poles, replacement poles, anchors, new poles, systems upgrades, stringing sites, staging areas, landing zones, guard structures, undergrounding areas, handhole locations, access roads, and any other identified component that may contribute to the proposed project’s overall footprint within and around CNF to apply for the 50-Year Master Special Use Permit. All told, the project included 150 miles of overhead transmission/distribution lines and underground distribution lines inside a region of such great biodiversity and sensitivity that Chambers Group conducted focused surveys for more than 20 specific species.

Additionally, Chambers Group created a geodatabase utilizing the feature dataset organization to help quickly query and select various project elements such as the transmission/distribution lines, supporting facilities, biological resources, and access routes. Various figures, maps, and map books were produced to support technical reports and provided for project team meetings to discuss the findings.