Central Coast dunes park will stay closed for months due to storm damage

Rancho Guadalupe Dunes county park will be closed for months after the Santa Maria River dramatically washed out the entrance road.

“The park is fine, but the river shifted across the entrance to the park and along the road to the park from the gate,” Jeff Lindgren with Santa Barbara County Parks said.

Santa Barbara County is included in the federal disaster declaration for January storms, which means emergency work and repairs can be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and residents can apply for financial assistance.

During the Jan. 9 storm, a breach of the Santa Maria River levee caused flooding in Guadalupe residential neighborhoods. A sinkhole contributed to major home damage in nearby Orcutt.

The county requested to be added to the federal disaster declaration for the February and March winter storms as well, but hasn’t been, as of this week, said Kelly Hubbard, Office of Emergency Management director for the county.

Hubbard and other county staff showed FEMA representatives storm damage around the county during a late April visit, she added.

“There was some damage (to Guadalupe Dunes) in January, but then there was significantly more in February and March, so it’s really critical that we get those federal funds to be able to restore all of our parks,” Hubbard said.

“We had hoped we’d have it already, but we don’t, and we don’t know why.”

The Santa Maria River “rerouted” and washed out large sections of the road at the park entrance, at 6999 W. Main St., and some within the park, Hubbard said.

The county’s other day use parks are open, as are the two camping parks — Cachuma Lake and Jalama Beach.

Lindgren said the Bodger Hill trail in Lompoc is still closed, and the county wants to reroute the trail with a geo-technical firm and local trail builders.

Other coastal parks remain closed after winter storm damage

Two state parks along the Gaviota Coast have been closed for months after storms damaged the main waterlines, and it could be awhile before they’re ready for visitors.

“We’re hoping that by sometime in July we’ll be able to open Gaviota and sometime in August we’ll be able to open El Capitán,” said Dena Bellman, planning chief for the Channel Coast District of State Parks.

El Capitán State Beach’s day use area reopened May 1, but its campground and all of Gaviota State Park is still closed. Refugio State Beach, located in the middle of the three parks, is open.

Each of the parks has its own water lines and water treatment parks, and all three were damaged during the winter storms.

“It blew out all the water lines, but at least we were able to get Refugio fixed quickly,” Bellman said.

“All that infrastructure is pretty old, it’s been around for a long time and the storm took its toll on it.”

“Please be aware that the beach continues to have debris deposited from the ocean, and may look significantly different than before the winter storms!” State Parks officials wrote about El Capitán State Beach on the park’s Facebook page Tuesday.State Parks photo

Rain-swollen creeks washed out sections of road and water lines, high tides eroded coastal trails, and flooding filled restrooms with mud and debris, Bellman said.

At El Capitán, State Parks needs to repair the road to the water treatment plant and get water lines fixed before campgrounds will reopen.

“We’re having to rebuild a road, a new road, that will then have a water line in it so it’s protected,” Bellman said.

State Parks has done some of the prep work already, such as repairing creek embankments, and is about half done with that project, she said.

“Obviously, while it was still raining, we couldn’t really do any of that,” she said.

The entrance road project at El Capitán is being pushed back to January, she added. That includes plans to widen the entrance road, build a new park entry kiosk, and replace a culvert with a bridge to remove a barrier to fish passage. It’ll also build a more accessible trail to accommodate pedestrians entering the park.

Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com.