Winter storms continue to breach sea wall

• Homeowners watch as more holes develop in contentious erosion barrier

By Sean Pearson
Homer Tribune

HOMER TRIBUNE/Sean Pearson - Homeowner Findlay Abbott monitors the sea wall that runs along his property on Ocean Drive. Abbott and his neighbors have continued to battle the elements, as winter storms bring crashing waves and large swells inland.

For years, homeowners along Ocean Drive Loop have battled the punishing surf that crashes into the sea wall stretching out along the west side of the Homer Spit.
The 1,800-foot seawall, constructed of a plastic composite covered with wood at a cost of nearly $1 million, was built in 2002 as the bluff began losing land at an alarming rate. However, engineering flaws and the use of questionable materials in building the wall hasn’t stopped surging storms from causing erosion. And while the sea wall continues to provide some buffer against the churning sea swells, homeowner Findlay Abbott says it just isn’t enough.
“During some of these more recent storms, I stood out there with my camera just waiting for the whole thing to wash away,” Abbott said. “It’s just a matter of time, because it’s already broken open another hole in the wall.”
It’s not the first time.
Abbott first built his cabin on the piece of bluff property some 17 years ago. He set the structure back 75 feet from the edge — only to watch some 80 or more feet wash away from under it as stormy waves continued to lap at the land over the years.
“I built a second cabin and set it even further back off the bluff,” Abbott explained. “It’s getting to the point where that one is starting to be in danger, too. But I can’t build any closer to the road now.”
Winter storms have taken their toll on the sea wall since 2004, when a November storm swell breached the wall, and steel panels were installed to “mend” the hole. Subsequent heavy storms continued to pound at the wall, and 2006 ordinance established a special tax to fund operation and repairs of the sea wall.
In 2006, the City Council amended the operating budget by appropriating $20,000 from the General Fund Reserves to the Public Works Reserves for the purpose of providing for immediate and short- term maintenance and repair on the Ocean Drive Loop Erosion Control Project (Seawall).
According to Abbott, a November 2009 storm washed out a considerable amount of gravel from the base of the sea wall. A week later, another storm watched much of the gravel back into place.
“It can’t be stable with that kind of erosion going on with each storm,”Abbott said. “We need to look at better ways to fix this issue besides just tacking more repairs on. We’ve got to look at all of our options.”
Ocean Drive homeowners continue to work on forming an association to help decide how to proceed, such as adopting guidelines for grants to help with the eroding seawall. So far, however, contention among homeowners surrounding the association has stymied much progress.
Even so, all seem to agree that the ultimate solution to the problem is to install armor rock along the base of the sea wall.
Armor rock is large rock material used to line shoreline structures to protect against water and ice erosion. Only, it’s very expensive, and hard to find in large supply around the area. Homer City Manager Walt Wrede has indicated that the closest possible source for armor rock would like be Seward.
“Once we get armor rock, the sea wall won’t be a problem,” Wrede said.
Still, despite taxes raised from property owners under the special service district, the $10,000 per year would not be enough to generate the   necessary millions to install the armor rock.
In the meantime, Abbott and his neighbors continue to wonder if the next big winter storm will bring waves big enough to finally bring the sea wall structure down.
If so, Abbott contends that he will be there to catch it on camera.
“I know it’s just a matter of time before it all comes down,” he said. “That sea wall is an engineering disaster that we’re all going to wind up paying for somehow.”

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