A final report that explores ways San Clemente can save its beaches using nature-based solutions was presented to city officials hoping to figure out a solution to its shrinking shoreline — and a proposed pilot project could have the added benefit of a new, man-made surf break.
The study kicked off in 2022 following a $300,000 grant given by the state Coastal Commission, with several community meetings to gain feedback on what would be best suited for troubled areas of the 5-mile stretch of beach.
The final findings of the three-year survey and report were presented to the City Council, which voted on Tuesday night, Nov. 18, to submit the final report to the state Coastal Commission and to allow staff to pursue grant funding for the project.
The city this week also announced it has been granted the green light to add up to 300,000 cubic yards annually of “opportunistic” sand on its shoreline, allowing it to bypass lengthy permitting hurdles when sand becomes available.
Efforts by the coastal town to save its beaches have swelled in recent years as the shoreline continues to erode, in some areas impassable when tides are high. Without its beach, the community’s recreation, tourism and businesses suffer.
The consultant for the “Nature Based Adaptation Project Feasibility Report,” Moffett & Nichol, did shoreline modeling and came up with various ideas for sand retention features, from dunes covering cobble to act as a barrier to waves, to offshore reefs and “speedbumps” to slow down wave energy before it hits the shoreline.
In the final draft presented to city officials, the consultant recommended that the city proceed with advancing a pilot offshore multi-benefit emergent breakwater, paired with beach nourishment, at North Beach.
San Clemente’s coastal administrator, Leslea Meyerhoff, noted that the nature-based adaptations serve as a way to retain and preserve the investment in sand nourishment, helping to hold the sand in place.
Various ideas were proposed during the past three years, including cobble deltas that would mimic conditions at Lower Trestles and mini headlands. Community feedback favored the offshore reef design at three locations: North Beach, Capistrano Shores and State Beach on the south end of town.
North Beach was ranked highest as a “pilot project” to see if the idea works. The area was selected to try out the idea because it is more accessible, with a parking lot and train station and includes other amenities, a restroom and restaurants, nearby.
Chris Webb, principal coastal scientist with Moffett & Nichol, said the idea is to build up the beaches with sand first in the next few years, then add the offshore reef in five years to hold the sand in place, then build a back beach of dunes and cobble to help also serve as a buffer to infrastructure.
The “dog bone” shape is rounded at the end for a reason: It could help to create a new surf spot, he said.
“Maybe there’s a new surf resource that gets introduced by this project,” he said. “We’ve attempted to stay away from existing surf spots.”
The breakwater structure would use a concrete material that is better than rock for attracting marine life and would sit about 900 feet from shore. It would span about 1,500 feet long, the length of about five football fields.
“You need something like that to do the job. Mother Ocean is a very energetic place; she won’t be trifled with,” Webb said. “She would demolish something that’s smaller in footprint and not large enough to block the energy during these conditions.”
The shape, size and scope of the project may change, however, as further study and modeling is complete, he noted.
San Clemente has experienced widespread beach erosion since the late 1990s due to historic, natural sand supplies being cut off and no longer reaching the beach, coupled with significant storm wave events and El Niño events over time, said the staff report.
“The city’s shoreline is now in a significant, sediment-deficit condition requiring action and intervention to restore the beach,” the city staff report said.
Coastal engineers estimate that 5 to 7 million cubic yards of sand are required to restore the city’s entire shoreline over time.
In 2024, the city added 237,000 cubic yards to its shoreline from an Army Corps of Engineers project that is expected to reoccur every 5 to 7 years for the next 50 years.
In 2025, OCTA added another 2,500 cubic yards as part of the first installment of its planned 540,000 cubic yards of sand as a mitigation for rock boulders placed along the rail line. Another recent addition of rocks puts OCTA at 700,000 cubic yards of sand owed to San Clemente, said city manager Andy Hall at a recent community meeting.
The city’s news that it has gained its final regulatory approval needed to restart the city’s Sand Compatibility and Opportunistic Use Program, or SCOUP, allows the city to put up to 3 million cubic yards of beach-quality sand in the next 10 years at four city beaches to mitigate coastal erosion and build long-term coastal resiliency, the city said.
The city has already done smaller-scale sand placement using smaller SCOUP allowances by bringing sand in from the Santa Ana River at North Beach, Hall said.
“If we can find the sand and the resources, the SCOUP project could really help out,” he said.
The city’s SCOUP program expired in 2016, and the latest approval is good for a 10-year period. The next step for the nature-based solutions would be to design the project, gain permitting approvals and do physical lab testing and computer modeling to see if it would actually block waves and retain sand, Webb said.
The city is also part of a collaboration of coastal cities that reaches down to San Diego, called SANDAG, that hopes to add even more sand to the region.
All of the projects are dependent on funding needed — early estimates put the North Beach project cost at $89 million, though that could change as more information is available.
“Now we just need to make sure we are somehow finding the resources, we keep going after grants,” Hall said. “We’re going to keep trying to find the funding to get sand on the beach.”