The Rancho Guadalupe Dunes Preserve remains closed seven months after the Santa Maria River shifted off its natural path in Guadalupe following the January storms.
“People were asking questions about access to the dunes because the river wiped out access,” Guadalupe Mayor Ariston Julian told the Sun. “The county is working on getting it back together; it’s going to take a lot of money and time, but we’ll get everybody together to let them know what’s going on.”
On July 19, Guadalupe city officials, Santa Barbara County 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, the County Public Works Department, and the county Office of Emergency Management will be hosting a public town hall at Guadalupe City Hall to give an update on dunes access road repairs, Santa Maria River realignment, the Santa Maria River Levee Trail project, Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance updates, and other concerns brought up by the public, Supervisor Lavagnino said.
“Things are still in flux; we’re going to talk about our hopeful successes with the state and federal agencies to better understand how we might be able to channelize the Santa Maria River from Santa Maria to Guadalupe,” Lavagnino said. “We think there might be a compromise between now and July 19 to figure out how to change the streambeds so it’s safer in case we get rains like we did last year.”
During the January storms, the river’s natural path filled with sediment, causing the water to leave its banks and saturate nearby farmland, wash out nearly 2,000 feet of roadway, and cut off access to the park, county Public Works Public Information Officer Lael Wageneck told the Sun. Now the Public Works Department is working on repairing access roads to the dunes and collaborating with state and federal agencies to realign the river, Wageneck said.
“2023 was the wettest year since 1998 and as soil across the county was saturated, slopes moved and that led to road damage,” Wageneck said. “This storm season we had 159 damaged road sites over 160 miles of road with an estimated repair cost of $43.6 million, and this was all across the county from Montecito to Jalama Road in Lompoc and then all this damage in Guadalupe.”
Road repairs for Guadalupe dunes access will be taken in three sections, with the first section near the park’s kiosk, which began on June 12. It’s expected to be complete by the first week of August with construction costs at an estimated $400,000, Wageneck said. The second project to put in a temporary access road is out to bid, but construction should start in August or September and take about two months.
“Anything beyond that, which would be the [western] section in the dunes, is the most environmentally sensitive. Anything you do along the coast in a park area like that is going to be environmentally sensitive, especially with the river emptying into the ocean right there,” Wageneck said. “There’s a lot of vegetation and animals that rely on that vegetation for habitat and food.”
Repairing this area will require permitting and coordination with federal, state, and local agencies, he said. Work could begin toward the end of the year, and park access could be restored within six months to a year.
“These construction projects are emergency repairs, and the road will likely only be passable while the river remains in its original channel. If the river continues to the south, the area could be inundated again during future rains,” Wageneck added in an email.
The river’s realignment is outside of the county’s jurisdiction, and local agencies don’t have the financial resources or staffing to take the lead on this project, he said. County Public Works submitted a request to the California Office of Emergency Services for state and federal assistance for technical and construction support, and the department expects a response soon.
“It’s extremely important to reestablish the footprint of the river because we want to protect the homes, the city’s wastewater treatment plant, and the private businesses in the area,” Wageneck said.
Guadalupe City Hall is located at 918 Obispo St., and the town hall begins at 6 p.m. Reach out to pwweb@countyofsb.org with any questions about Public Works projects.
This article appears in Jul 13-23, 2023.