Oxnard committee hears coastal plan update: maps show erosion, tidal and storm flooding risks through multiple sea-level scenarios

Oxnard — City staff and consultants on Oct. 28 presented an update on the effort to revise Oxnard’s certified Local Coastal Program to plan for sea-level rise, showing maps of erosion, tidal and storm flooding under multiple scenarios and outlining a suite of adaptation options ranging from beach nourishment and dunes to hard-armoring and drainage improvements.

Jeff Van Ghely, the city’s community development director, and Kathleen Mallory, planning and sustainability manager, introduced Carolyn Groves of Dudek, the coastal-planning consultant, who led the presentation. Groves said the update is roughly 40–50% through a three-year effort to update Oxnard’s LCP, which was certified in the 1980s and covers roughly 15% of the city’s land area. The presentation used the USGS COSMOS model and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios to evaluate multiple future sea-level-rise benchmarks (including roughly 1.6, 3.3, 4.9 and 6.6 feet) and show when different levels might occur under intermediate and high emissions pathways.

The vulnerability assessment was organized to match Oxnard’s four LCP planning areas: Planning Area 1 (McGrath/Mandalay Beach and the Santa Clara River mouth), Planning Area 2 (Oxnard Shores, Channel Islands and the upper Channel Islands Harbor under city…