Oceanside sand replenishment operation delayed

Dredging of the Oceanside Harbor began on May 24. The five-week project was to have replenished sand along the beachfront to the south: North Coast Village condos, the pier, and along the Strand from Tyson Street to Ash Street.

After only a few days of sucking up harbor sand and spewing it out through the pipe’s end, the dredging stopped. It didn’t resume until July 6. Rumor around the beach was that the dredging barge broke down.

“It's all the Army Corps of Engineers,” said Oceanside Harbor manager Paul Lawrence, explaining that Oceanside officials know little about the dredging operation. “We were just lucky to have had a seat at the table and listen in [when the project was being planned].”

Rumors among a few boaters were that the equipment brought in to do the dredging was too small. Greg Fuderer, spokesman for the Army Corps said that might have been the problem as it relates to “sea conditions and high waves,” which prohibited the work from continuing with the current equipment.

Lawrence pointed out that in past years, Mason Construction, of Long Beach, has successfully done the dredging with their 200´ barge. The lowest bid this year went to CJW Construction, of Santa Ana; they brought down a 75´ barge.

Fuderer said that in the Corps' request for proposal, in which CJW bid on, it explains only the job and the time frame required. It's up to the company to figure out how to do it. Fuderer says the Corps did its due diligence on the low bidder, as CJW has successfully worked on projects in the past.

Fuderer said the project’s time frame hasn’t changed. He expects the dredging to be completed by the original date of August 2.

As far as conditions of the harbor floor, a few boaters indicated they believed that some areas of the harbor may be only five feet deep at low tide. “Not true,” said Lawrence, who showed me a radar-charted map of the harbor’s bottom. Along the Main, Del Mar, and Oceanside channels, one can see the depths are safe for at any boat or ship to exit the harbor.