By Jorge Casuso

August 13, 2024 -- Santa Monica's sand dunes keep expanding, and City officials are seeking feedback Thursday on transforming a third stretch of the beach into a natural habitat.

The virtual "stakeholder outreach"a meeting, hosted by the Bay Foundation and the City's Office of Sustainability and the Environment, will take place starting at 5 p.m.

Santa Monica Beach Restoration Pilot Project (Courtesy of Bay Foundation)

"The project is currently in the early planning stage," City officials said. The meeting will "solicit feedback on the project from Santa Monica residents and surrounding communities that share this beach as a public resource."

The effort to restore stretches on the beach to its natural state was launched in December 2015 with a pilot project to restore an approximately 3-acre area.

After the project was completed in October 2021, a second phase encompassing nearly 5 adjacent acres was announced in April 2022 after the Bay Foundation received a $300,000 grant to build another dune.

The project -- which was estimated to take five years to implement -- aims to restore the stretch of sandy coast into a sustainable habitat that will deter beach erosion and allow nature to thrive, City officials said.

The third phase of the project is currently in the early planning stage, City officials said this week.

"This project will provide long-term climate resilience and ecological benefits while beautifying the coastline and protecting native flora and fauna like the Western Snowy Plover," City officials said.

The three acres transformed by the pilot project have helped draw the Western Snowy Plover that has not been seen on Santa Monica Beach for more than 70 years, officials said.

"By restricting beach grooming activities, seeding native plants and using fencing to build dunes, a rare coastal habitat was successfully brought back to Santa Monica," City officials said.

According to a "5 Year Annual Report" issued by the Foundation in December 2021, the pilot project "allowed vegetation to grow and sand hummocks to form along fence lines."

The project, the report said, "provided comprehensive science-based monitoring data to inform soft-scape beach restoration solutions, supported wildlife, and is bringing back a rare coastal habitat type to the Los Angeles region."