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Port of Oakland will do what the waves didn't

Oakland Tribune, Apr 3, 2006 by Paul T. Rosynsky, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- The wrath of Mother Nature is known to wreak havoc on everything man-made, but in the case of a beach at the Port of Oakland, nature's calmness is the culprit.

Because the last two winters failed to stir up big waves, the port will have to spend about $500,000 to rehabilitate a beach at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park.

The beach hasn't been used since the park opened in June 2004.

Port planners envisioned the beach making itself. They dumped sand on the shore and waited for large waves to wash the grains around bit by bit. Eventually, the thinking went, a beach would be formed as the waves caused the sand to slope gently into San Francisco Bay.

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And that beach would contribute to development of a shallow marsh area at the center of the

40-acre park.

But the huge waves never came, and today the beach is just a pile of sand covered by waterlogged wood and debris instead of lawn chairs and sunbathers. "Building a beach is a dynamic process," said Brad McCrea, a bay design analyst with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development District. "It's not like building a dock. You're dealing with Mother Nature, and that is unpredictable."

Port officials decided to try to create a beach after seeking community suggestions about what the park should feature. A continuing theme throughout those discussions was the chance to touch water.

The beach idea also offered another benefit: It gave the port a place to dump material it was digging up as part of its multi- billion-dollar Vision 2000 maritime terminal expansion project.

Though the port did not envision pouring $500,000 into beach construction, having to move sand around was not unexpected, officials said.

"We understood that with time we would have to do some adaptive management," said Port Director of Engineering Jerry Serventi. "We did all these studies; we really took an effort at predicting it, but you don't know what Mother Nature is going to do."

Also complicating efforts was a wall built in the Bay to help facilitate creation of the shallow-water habitat.

Port officials didn't think it would be built before the beach, but it was. As a result, the wall built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blocked many waves from hitting the beach.

"We knew sooner or later we would have to do something with it," Serventi said. "Now we have been watching it for a couple of years, so we have enough information to make the right changes."

Those changes, Serventi said, will give visitors a better product than was first anticipated.

Under the new design, the beach will be bordered by a 120-foot- wide grassy area and sand dunes, similar to what Alameda's Crown Beach along Shoreline Drive looks like.

It also will include an outdoor shower and constant cleanup efforts to remove trash and other debris washed onshore by the Bay.

Serventi said the beach should be completed by the summer.

"It has taken us a little longer than we hoped," he said. "But when you watch the interaction, Mother Nature at work, that is the beauty of the beach. We are getting what we wanted."

Port of Oakland will do what the waves didn't

Oakland Tribune, Apr 3, 2006 by Paul T. Rosynsky, STAFF WRITER

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