Curious incident in the nighttime

PETER BUFFA

Did you do it? I didn’t do it. But somebody did, and now the city of

Newport Beach has to pay the tab.

On a dark and quiet night in mid-April, someone leveled a row of

sand dunes on the beach in West Newport.

The dunes, naturally formed and nicely decked out with ice plant,

stood between about 10 beachfront homes and the rest of the beach.

They had grown from little, wimpy dunes to big, manly dunes over the

years and had just about blocked the view of the water from the

beachfront homes, much to the homeowners’ dismay.

It now seems that one or more of the homeowners may have decided

to take the law, and the dunes, into their own hands. None of the

homeowners have had any comment, although some of them have had a

hard time keeping a straight face when approached by reporters about

what happened on that starry, starry night.

The missing dunes were first discovered by a Newport Beach

maintenance supervisor on the morning of April 18. It didn’t take

long for the trail to lead to the Santa Ana River, whose big mouth is

just down the beach, and CJW Construction, a company working on a

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project in the river.

The company did a quick check and reported that an excavator and a

front loader from their job site looked like they had been moved

during the night, but they had no idea by whom and for what.

That matches what Jack Crabbs, who lives just down the beach, said

he saw as he was having a midnight smoke on his patio on that dark

and quiet April night. Crabbs was surprised to see some construction

equipment lumber up the beach and start pounding away at the dunes a

few houses away.

“I just thought it was bizarre,” Crabbs told the Orange County

Register. “I thought it was pretty shady.”

No argument there, Jack, and the California Coastal Commission

couldn’t agree with you more.

The Coastal Commission sent the city of Newport Beach an

unpleasant letter that said they suspect the dunes were the victim of

an “under the table deal” between one or more of the homeowners and

someone working on the Santa Ana River project. The Coastal

Commission isn’t sure exactly who did what to whom for how much, but

they are hopping mad and they have asked the Orange County District

Attorney’s Office to investigate, which is something they rarely do.

The commission is also demanding -- much to the surprise of

Newport Beach -- that the city rebuild and replant the dunes

immediately, if not sooner. The city is as bummed out about the

missing dunes as anyone, but they are not entirely sure how they

ended up being cuffed and put in the back of the Coastal Commission’s

squad car.

According to City Manager Homer Bludau, the city is exploring its

options with the Coastal Commission, while Newport Beach police

continue to investigate the demise of the dunes.

So what’s the big deal? Why not cruise out there with a skip

loader, push a little sand around and, voila, instant sand dunes?

Yeah, right, that’s it. Doing anything on, to, or near a beach

brings down a landslide of state and federal regulations on the head

of those who dare.

The city will need a number of environmental consultants to do

plant studies and biological surveys to determine what was disturbed

and how to restore it. The new dunes will have to be rebuilt and

planted just so and monitored as the new vegetation grows.

If none of that sounds cheap, it’s because it isn’t. OK, fine. But

the most interesting question remains -- who did in the dunes?

Is there anything better than a good mystery? I think not.

Let’s review. ‘Round midnight, two pieces of heavy equipment

rattle along the beach and attack a row of sand dunes in their sleep.

No one knows how long the excavator and front-loader were excavating

and front-loading, but it had to be more than a few minutes. Whatever

else construction equipment is, it is not quiet.

A front-loader and an excavator are banging away at a line of sand

dunes on the beach, in the dark, at midnight, a few feet from homes,

patios and decks -- and no one hears or notices a thing -- other than

Jack Crabbs, who doesn’t call anyone.

My prediction? The Newport Beach police will eventually get their

man, or woman, or men, or women or some combination thereof. The

equipment will lead to the drivers, and the drivers will lead to the

brains of the operation, and the brains of the operation will get a

whopping bill from the city.

You may recall the homeowner in Dana Point, Arthur Warren, who

hired a crew last year to top off seven pine trees on public property

behind his house that were blocking his ocean view. The city and the

neighbors were not amused, and Warren has agreed to pay $175,000 to

settle the suit the city filed against him.

So there you have it. If you know anything about the missing

dunes, call the Newport Beach Police Department.

And if you see anyone with sand dunes who looks like he or she

don’t belong to them, stay away. It’s too dangerous. You can never

trust an excavator.

I gotta go.

* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs

Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].