The American Coastal Coalition is awarding SANDAG with a "Top Restored Beach Award" for 2003. The project is being honored as the first comprehensive regional beach restoration project on the West Coast of the United States.

Thanks to the San Diego Regional Beach Sand Project, which placed more than 2 million cubic yards of sand on the beaches, a priceless resource was restored. Clean beach-quality sand was dredged from a half-dozen offshore sites and pumped onto 12 beaches along the San Diego region's coastline.

"The results of the project have been phenomenal," said Carlsbad Councilmember Ann Kulchin who also chairs SANDAG's Shoreline Preservation Committee. "Now residents and visitors alike can continue to enjoy the pristine beaches, coastal wildlife, and breathtaking vistas the San Diego region's beaches are known for," Kulchin added.

The Town of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, was chosen as the East Coast recipient of the award.

In considering nominations for the award, beaches were reviewed for several characteristics important to successful restoration projects, including innovative partnering and project management to achieve goals, durability of the restoration, and environmental and economic impacts.

For more than 30 years, communities across the nation have been restoring their beaches, thereby improving the economic viability, social infrastructure and storm protection of their coastal areas, according to Tom Campbell, ACC chairman and president of Coastal Planning & Engineering Corp. in Boca Raton, Florida.

"The ACC decided that recognizing coastal communities for their restoration efforts would underscore the importance of beach restoration and give credit to those communities who have undertaken these significant projects," said Campbell. "These awards also serve as a reminder that some of our nation's best known beaches have been preserved and enhanced through beach restoration and careful management."

The ACC represents coastal communities and organizations from across the nation in an effort to shape national policy concerning beach management and restoration and to assure a proper role for the federal government in coastal protection programs. The group strives to engage a factual debate about coastal issues and economics with Congress and the administration.

Project Manager: Rob Rundle
(619) 595-5649