City in talks with Army Corps

More than three months after the City Council approved a resolution to revisit an Army Corps of Engineers coastal protection plan that was rejected in 2006, City Manager Jack Schnirman said that talks with the corps are under way.

“ …We’re looking to see the project move on an aggressive timetable,” Schnirman said.

He explained that the city is also talking to the corps about protecting the side of the city on Reynolds Channel, and about recommendations made by the city’s independent consulting firm, Coastal Planning and Engineering Inc.

“We’re in regular communication right now with the Army Corps,” Schnirman said, “and talks are ongoing to expedite a long-term solution that provides storm reduction consistent with the process that we’ve gone through with … CP&E.”

In 2006, the City Council voted unanimously against a $98.5 million beach preservation project that was designed by the corps to protect Long Beach from ocean flooding, mainly because it did not address flooding along Reynolds Channel. A number of residents said that the project would ruin ocean views, and that dredging and beach replenishment might negatively affect wave conditions, sand quality and rip currents.