Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

What happens when you bring sand to the beach

I.B. homeowners claim SANDAG created a flood hazard

A group of Imperial Beach homeowners has filed suit against the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and the City of Imperial Beach over a 2012 sand-replenishment project gone wrong.

The Imperial Beach Shores Homeowners Association claims that the $28.5 million project paid for by SANDAG and designed and constructed by Moffatt and Nichols created big problems. Condominium owners at 1412–1434 Seacoast Drive say that the 450,000 cubic yards of sand taken from offshore sites and placed on less than a mile of coastline created a flood hazard.

Expanding Imperial Beach shoreline along Seacoast Drive was part of SANDAG's Regional Beach Sand Project II. The project consisted of dredging 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from Oceanside and bringing it to Imperial Beach.

Sponsored
Sponsored

By November 2014, months after the beach was expanded, as reported in the Reader, residents found large pools of water surrounding several buildings — some of which had seeped underneath foundations. Residents soon approached SANDAG with concerns that pools of salt water will slowly eat at the building's foundations. A group of residents filed formal complaints. SANDAG denied those claims.

Now, the residents are asking the courts to enter the mix.

The lawsuit alleges that the designer Moffatt and Nichols failed to observe the natural slope of the shoreline. Failing to do so resulted in steep drop-offs in the newly laid and weak compacted sand, which in turn created streams of water that flowed away from the ocean, toward the condominiums.

"...[O]cean water has drained to, and accumulated on or against the foundation walls of plaintiff's property, resulting in damage to, and accelerated degradation of, the plaintiff's foundations and block walls," reads the lawsuit. "Plaintiff is informed and believes that damage has also been inflicted on the driveways, sidewalks, and metal structural components and fasteners in plaintiff's property."

Condominium residents are asking that a judge award damages as well as require SANDAG to repair sinking foundations and weakened fasteners.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

At 4pm, this Farmer's Table restaurant in Chula Vista becomes Acqua e Farina

Brunch restaurant by day, Roman style trattoria by night

A group of Imperial Beach homeowners has filed suit against the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and the City of Imperial Beach over a 2012 sand-replenishment project gone wrong.

The Imperial Beach Shores Homeowners Association claims that the $28.5 million project paid for by SANDAG and designed and constructed by Moffatt and Nichols created big problems. Condominium owners at 1412–1434 Seacoast Drive say that the 450,000 cubic yards of sand taken from offshore sites and placed on less than a mile of coastline created a flood hazard.

Expanding Imperial Beach shoreline along Seacoast Drive was part of SANDAG's Regional Beach Sand Project II. The project consisted of dredging 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from Oceanside and bringing it to Imperial Beach.

Sponsored
Sponsored

By November 2014, months after the beach was expanded, as reported in the Reader, residents found large pools of water surrounding several buildings — some of which had seeped underneath foundations. Residents soon approached SANDAG with concerns that pools of salt water will slowly eat at the building's foundations. A group of residents filed formal complaints. SANDAG denied those claims.

Now, the residents are asking the courts to enter the mix.

The lawsuit alleges that the designer Moffatt and Nichols failed to observe the natural slope of the shoreline. Failing to do so resulted in steep drop-offs in the newly laid and weak compacted sand, which in turn created streams of water that flowed away from the ocean, toward the condominiums.

"...[O]cean water has drained to, and accumulated on or against the foundation walls of plaintiff's property, resulting in damage to, and accelerated degradation of, the plaintiff's foundations and block walls," reads the lawsuit. "Plaintiff is informed and believes that damage has also been inflicted on the driveways, sidewalks, and metal structural components and fasteners in plaintiff's property."

Condominium residents are asking that a judge award damages as well as require SANDAG to repair sinking foundations and weakened fasteners.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Wild Wild Wets, Todo Mundo, Creepy Creeps, Laura Cantrell, Graham Nancarrow

Rock, Latin reggae, and country music in Little Italy, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Harbor Island
Next Article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader