My family owns a beach front place at the Shores since the early 1970's. I have never been more annoyed at the constant heavy equipment use on the beach in front of the Shores as I was last week. 6 days a week of heavy equipment and the constant 8 hours of beeping noise that the big tractors make when backing up. One day the driver drove backwards from one end of the beach to the other at least a dozen times with a constant backup noise for half an hour!

 The most annoying part is that they are moving seaweed from one end of the beach to the other and taking literally all day to bury it and level the sand with unnecessary precision. This isn't winter where we would be concerned about storms and sand erosion.  I was amazed at the hours spent leveling, smoothing and going over and over the same patch of beach. It's a beach for god's sake, bury the seaweed and be done with it. This isn't a golf course. Beaches are not naturally flat and  smooth.

It was disconcerning to experience the constant daily noise pollution let alone think about the cost of salaries, gas and maintenance that this type of activity utilizes? I can only think Coronado has a massive budget for seaweed removal and beach leveling. In the past the city has buried the seaweed and then left the beach by mid-day. I cannot recall Coronado ever spending time/money on leveling the beach.

Perhaps the city council should review it's policies on this activity and review the necessity of a budget to level sand in the middle of summer.

Just a thought. Anyone else annoyed?

 

 

Views: 838

Tags: beaches, community

Comment by Ben Hallowell on August 22, 2012 at 7:20pm

Don't understand - you are complaining about the City removing mounds of stinking kelp simply because of the manner in which they choose to bury it? Absolutely incredible - and the beeping noise - you probably don't like the roar of the military jets either - anyway just another opinion, you are entitled to yours and I respect that, just don't understand it - most beach goers really appreciate the City's timely efforts in dealing with the seaweed

Comment by Carolyn Jennings on August 22, 2012 at 8:25pm

I live at the Shores and support the original poster. It's great that the city removes the mounds and mounds of rancid kelp, however, they do it because it's the city's responsibility to make the beaches clean and safe for the locals and the tourists. Otherwise, Coronado wouldn't be the #1 beach in America, would it? And tourism wouldn't have increased 20% due to that appointment. However, it's the way in which the city does it that is the problem. The beeping starts usually at 7:00 am and I've heard it even earlier than that many, many, many times. And when it does stop, the beeping remains in your head. They could stick to a schedule of just doing it in the am and lower the volume of the beep (even with the air conditioner on and Matt Lauer yelling the morning news at me at volume level 50, I can still hear the beeping). Thanks!

Comment by John m on August 22, 2012 at 8:35pm
I love to look at the ocean and thank god I live here
Comment by Kerry Roth on August 22, 2012 at 8:58pm

I love Coronado, the jets, the beach and the beauty. I'm all for clean beaches. I am asking why we need to spend such an inordinate amount of time,  noise and resources leveling the beach. We use to dig a hole, scoop the seaweed in and cover it over. A small mound would remain that would sink as the seaweed composted. We didn't have heavy equipment on our beaches all day 6 days a week and half a day on Sundays. Last week we only had seaweed near the rocks. It wasn't like our beach was covered in seaweed.

I think you have to live at the Shores to be affected by the noise and continued commotion. If you can hear it over air conditioning and TV it certainly warrants some modification so everyone can enjoy a peaceful living enviorment while we keep our beaches at #1.

Comment by Jenna McIntosh on August 22, 2012 at 10:05pm
In case you haven't heard, there is an unusual amount of seaweed on the beach this summer. The city has had to hire extra equipment to clean it up. They need to start their job early to get out of the way of people enjoying the beach. I live ocean front at the shores and I am glad we have a city that is working so hard to clean up the stinking seaweed. After listening to the equipment working in front of my building, I was amazed when I looked out to see a beautiful clean beach. They did an amazing job!
Comment by Ben Hallowell on August 23, 2012 at 7:26am

Thanks. Now I better understand your concerns and apologize for the tone of my original remark. We enjoy the same beach regularly and really appreciate the City's timely efforts to keep it kelp free. However if we lived there, I'm sure we'd find the constant beeping to be irritating and would want answers. Just so I understand - don't they have to spread the burial grounds as opposed to one big compost hole because of the offensive smell which would seem inevitable from such a large compost hole no matter how they tried to cover it. Also, when the scoop is fully loaded with dead seaweed, doesn't the driver have to move primarily in reverse in order to increase his visibility (i.e. safety?) Finally, disabling the beeper would seem to jeapordize safety (people have been run over by other vehicles on the beach) as well as causing a major liability issue for the City. Just some additional thoughts as to why the process is the way it is. 

Comment by Kim Moreno on August 23, 2012 at 11:13am

The seaweed accumulation is the worst I've ever seen in the summer months and with Coronado being the recreational destination for so many, it's got to be removed and done so efficiently and ecologically. I have wondered if this material might be taken to some green landfill other than the immediate beach for burial. the city's loaders could remove the kelp straight into semi trailers and transport it to such a green landfill off the Island. This is an infrequent summer occurrence of kelp accumulation but has already happened twice this year.  And Kerry, I sympathize with you. When the kelp stacked up, I just stayed away, but you live there.

Comment by Steve Lock on August 27, 2012 at 8:55am

I live in the Cays. They purposefully leave the seaweed on the beach down here. I love it; the way nature intended. Yea, it's nice to have a pristine palace, and I get that most people only want sand between their toes, no flies or smell. I also get that it keeps most tourists happy. So sure, clean it up. But, like several other posts...dig a hole, bury the stuff and move on with the day. 

Comment by Jim Rohn on August 27, 2012 at 10:25am

wow ... one could say the same for the Shores ... but it is what it is and the 13th-on I did notice the inordinate amount of seaweed (as opposed to the previous visits). We are only fortunate to be there 2 1/2 weeks per year but we cherish every day there - seaweed, sinkholes and all.

The idea of using semi trailers to remove the kelp adds at least another layer of temporary inconvenience and perhaps safety issues to the mix and we certainly can't have them beeping when they back up either now can we? ;) Besides WHERE would they go to be loaded? And how much more activity would be required to get to them?

Thumper said it best ... 

:-)

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