Aliso Beach Berm Protection Enforcement Action Requested Aliso

Aliso Beach Berm Protection Enforcement Action Requested Aliso Beach City of Laguna Beach & County of Orange

Request for Investigation and Enforcement The Laguna Bluebelt Coalition requests the California Coastal Commission direct Staff to investigate and enforce protection of Biological Resources and Public Access at Aliso Beach destroyed daily by vandals digging out the natural beach sand berm to release 1 to 5 million gallons of contaminated urban runoff to State Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

Aliso Berm & Signage at Coast Highway

Aliso Beach & Laguna MPA

Vandals Daily Dig Out Aliso Beach Sand Berm

Illegal Beach Berm Breaching Releases Millions of Gallons of Polluted Urban Runoff to MPAs

California Coastal Act Section 30230 & Section 30231 Section 30107. 5 Environmentally sensitive area "Environmentally sensitive area" means any area in which plant or animal life or their habitats are either rare or especially valuable because of their special nature or role in an ecosystem and degraded by human activities and developments. which could be easily disturbed or ARTICLE 4 MARINE ENVIRONMENT Section 30230 Marine resources; maintenance Marine resources shall be maintained, enhanced, and where feasible, restored. Special protection shall be given to areas and species of special biological or economic significance. Uses of the marine environment shall be carried out in a manner that will sustain the biological productivity of coastal waters and that will maintain healthy populations of all species of marine organisms adequate for long-term commercial, recreational, scientific, and educational purposes. The biological productivity and the quality of coastal waters, streams, wetlands, estuaries, and lakes appropriate to maintain optimum populations of marine organisms and for the protection of human health shall be maintained and, where feasible, restored through, among other means, Section 30231 Biological productivity; water quality minimizing adverse effects of waste water discharges and entrainment, controlling runoff, preventing depletion of ground water supplies and substantial interference with surface waterflow, encouraging waste water reclamation, maintaining natural vegetation buffer areas that protect riparian habitats, and minimizing alteration of natural streams

Aliso Berm Provides Safe Public Access to Beaches to the North

A Natural Coastal Land Resource

California Coastal Act PUBLIC ACCESS & LAND RESOURCES ARTICLE 2 PUBLIC ACCESS Section 30210 Access; recreational opportunities; posting In carrying out the requirement of Section 4 of Article X of the California Constitution, maximum access, which shall be conspicuously posted, and recreational opportunities shall be provided for all the people consistent with public safety needs and the need to protect public rights, rights of private property owners, and natural resource areas from overuse. (Amended by Ch. 1075, Stats. 1978. ) ARTICLE 5 LAND RESOURCES Section 30240 Environmentally sensitive habitat areas; adjacent developments (a) Environmentally sensitive habitat areas shall be protected against any significant disruption of habitat values, and only uses dependent on those resources shall be allowed within those areas. (b) Development in areas adjacent to environmentally sensitive habitat areas and parks and recreation areas shall be sited and designed to prevent impacts which would significantly degrade those areas, and shall be compatible with the continuance of those habitat and recreation areas. (Amended by Ch. 285, Stats. 1991. ) Note: Aliso Beach is a popular beach with easy access for regional Disadvantaged Communities seeking coastal resources and recreation.

ORANGE COUNTY ORDINANCES Sec. 3 -8 -25. - Creeks, canals, channels, rivers. It shall be and is hereby declared unlawful for any person, other than the owner or lessee of the hereinafter designated land or lands, to cut, hack, injure, destroy, move or remove any cane, reeds, sticks, grass, bamboo, trees, lumber, brush, weeds or vegetation of any kind or nature or printed, painted or written signs, or to dig, move or remove any sand, gravel, rocks, dirt, soil, debris or other material or substance, or to start, build or maintain fires of any nature whatsoever in or on creeks, canals, channels or rivers or the banks, beds, levees, dikes or embankments of said creeks, canals, channels or rivers or other land or lands of another located in the unincorporated area of the County of Orange, State of California, without the written consent of the owner or lessee of said creeks, canals, channels or rivers, or the banks, beds, levees, dikes or embankments of said creeks, canals, channels or rivers or other land or lands, or except in the lawful performance of an official duty. Sec. 3 -9 -35. - Water-related activities prohibited in designated channels. Except for public officers in the performance of their duties, and those authorized by the Board of Supervisors, it shall be unlawful for any person to wade, bathe, skin dive, swim, float, launch or occupy any paddleboard, surfboard, kayak, canoe, boat, tube, or similar craft, or any object or device capable of transporting a person on or in any creek, channel, canal, river, ditch, pipe or aqueduct within the jurisdiction and control of the Orange County Flood Control District. Said creeks, channels, canals, rivers, ditches, pipes and aqueducts include, but are not limited to: Aliso Creek Channel-JO 1

Investigate and Enforce Please investigate and require the City of Laguna Beach and County of Orange to enforce protection of Public Access and rare Biological Resources at Aliso Beach, tidepools and coastal kelp forests consistent with the California Coastal Act.