The California Coastal Commission recently approved Santa Barbara’s permit to retain a rock revetment at Leadbetter Beach to protect the area from winter storms.

Construction of the buried structure was completed under an emergency authorization during the January 2023 storms that eroded the shoreline and damaged the harbor parking lot and nearby boatyard. 

Composed of mostly 5-ton rocks, the revetment is about 360 feet long and was installed to protect the waterfront from further storm impacts.

“It’s just basically a wall of rocks,” said City Waterfront Director Mike Wiltshire. “It’s just buried under the sand. It looks like the beach.”

Wiltshire said the approval gives the city authority to make future repairs if storms dislodge any of the rocks. The permit also requires the city to hire a civil engineer to monitor the structure for the next three to five years to ensure the rocks remain in place.

According to the Coastal Commission, the revetment was deemed the “minimum necessary to protect the most vulnerable area of the harbor parking lot and boatyard.”

The permit is valid for 10 years, after which the city must apply for a new CCC review if it wants the revetment to remain in place.

The city also installs a sand berm on the eastern side of the beach each winter, near the Santa Barbara Yacht Club, to protect the area. That berm has not been installed as of this week.