UPDATE: Council Votes 6-0 (Motion By Price, Seconded by Mungo) To Resume Using Sprayed Concrete ("ShotCrete") On Bluff Erosion/Stabilization Project To Conclusion</a>

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UPDATE: Council Votes 6-0 (Motion By Price, Seconded by Mungo) To Resume Using Sprayed Concrete ("ShotCrete") On Bluff Erosion/Stabilization Project To Conclusion

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(Dec. 17, 2014, 8:45 a.m.) -- As seen LIVE on LBREPORT.com, at its Dec. 16 meeting, the City Council voted 6-0 (motion by Price, seconded by Mungo, Lowenthal and Richardson absent, 4th dist. vacant) to approve city staff's recommendation to resume a bluff erosion/stabilization project using sprayed concrete ("shotcrete") to completion.

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Following a city staff presentation consistent with its agendizing memo (at this link), Mayor Garcia then gave the floor to 3rd dist. Councilwoman Suzie Price who indicated she wanted to hear public comment...and didn't reveal her position. With no motion on the floor, Garcia invited public comment, which was sharply split (8 speakers for shotcrete to conclusion, 6 against.)

Speakers in favor of resuming the use of shotcrete to conclusion voiced displeasure at pausing the project in April 2014 to examine alternatives. Several, including property owners nearby, urged completing the project in the least time with the least cost. Some said areas that have been completed with shotcrete look fine after planned landscaping and staining are added to replicate a natural look.

Speakers in support of biotechnical plants and grading noted that a geotechnical peer review study indicated these methods are feasible. A public speaker cited Redondo Beach as an example of a beach area city that successfully used a biotechnical approach to deal with its bluffs. Joe Geever said shotcrete isn't allowed in shoreline areas. Gordana Kajer said any of the alternatives were preferably to using shotcrete...and said private groups and potential resources were available to help reduce city staff's asserted cost differential.

After public comment concluded [and speakers couldn't directly respond to her position], Councilwoman Price announced that she supports city staff's recommendation to resume using shotcrete to project conclusion. Councilwoman Price used Power Point slides to amplify her position at length. Podium speakers are limited to three-minutes unless extended by the Council.

Councilwoman Price prominently (although not exclusively) cited costs. Price said that at this point, every dollar matters...and said the delay/pause already taken would cost the city roughly $420,000 and biotechnical alternatives would cost more.

Falling oil prices have subsequently reduced Tidelands revenue which the Council (on previous votes) has allocated for a seismic rebuild of the Belmont Plaza Pool and repairing seawalls protecting private properties along the Naples canals. Councilwoman Price acknowledged the budget effects on other Tidelands-funded projects but said they aren't part of the bluff issue.

Councilwoman Price said the bluff issue had generated more comments than any other since she took office in mid-July 2014. Price said some comments [from individuals she didn't identify by name] had been contentious and mean spirited, and said just because some may disagree with her position doesn't mean she or others are bad people.

Councilwoman Price said a survey by her office (which she acknowledged was unscientific and said was basically a simple way to solicit public views) had produced 123 responses with 73% in favor of resuming the project using shotcrete. Price said she'd spent long hours in meetings and held discussions with multiple members on both sides of the issue...and quipped that on an hourly basis, her Council pay would amount to roughly $6.75 per hour on the issue.

Councilwoman Price said that only shotcrete offered assured effectiveness and said some risks remain with biotechnical approaches. She said differences, pro and con, over the resulting aesthetics of the finished project with and without shotcrete were subjective.

Some public speakers testified that they'd invested long hours [uncompensated] and effort in public meetings years earlier in fashioning a policy to address bluff erosion...in which "shotcrete" hadn't been mentioned. One member of the public (speaking emotionally) said she was shocked to learn that sprayed concrete was being applied to the bluffs. Councilwoman Price said previous public outreach hadn't been well conducted but complimented city staff for its approach to the issue now.

At the opening of the Council meeting, Mayor Garcia stated that Vice Mayor Lowenthal would be absent but offered no public explanation. LB's bluff areas are part of both the 2nd and 3rd Council districts. On April 29, both Lowenthal and now-exited 3rd. dist Councilman DeLong led in convening a specially scheduled Council meeting to pause the project to examine alternatives...during which then-Mayoral runoff candidate Garcia exited the Council Chamber before the vote [and didn't speak during the meeting.]

At the December 16 decisional Council meeting, Mayor Garcia commended Price for her position but voiced no explicitly stated position of his own on which approach he favored. Garcia said the pause/delay had been undertaken by the Council in April to make sure the right approach was being taken.