Orange County and San Clemente leaders continue studying different options to widen the city’s dwindling beaches and protect the iconic rail line that runs right next to the ocean.
Over the past five years, the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner passenger train has closed five times after slope failures damaged the tracks. In total, the train was closed for about a year because of the damage.
[Read: Is Orange County’s Coastal Train Entering its Final Days?]
County transportation officials are in the process of repairing critical areas deemed emergencies by the California Coastal Commission.
In April, Orange County Transportation Authority officials got approval to speed up efforts to place sand and rock, known as rip rap, at a few locations along the rail line that runs through San Clemente to protect it from landslides and coastal erosion.
A new 1,400-foot catchment wall is also expected as part of the emergency response to reinforce a bluff near Mile Post 204, north of the San Clemente pier.
[Read: State Grants Orange County Emergency Permit For Surfliner Rail Stabilization]
Local environmental groups have advocated against placing additional rip rap along the coast, arguing the boulders could speed up erosion. Instead, local advocates largely prefer sand placement over any other solution.
[Read: Environmental Groups Say Saving Train Tracks Harms San Clemente’s Beaches]
While the county addresses emergency needs, officials at the city and county levels are assessing the best solutions to bolster the rest of the shoreline and train tracks.
Critics argue improvements like sand placement aren’t being done fast enough.
“After spending millions of dollars, it seems like there has been no engineering evaluation done whatsoever,” Suzie Whitelaw, president of Save Our Beaches San Clemente, said in a text message. “It seems like they [OCTA] are actually trying to waste time, in order to avoid doing what needs to be done — adding more sand.”
At a Tuesday study session in San Clemente City Hall, Chris Boucly, OC Transit Authority project spokesperson, said OCTA is already taking action to bolster the areas deemed emergencies by the California Coastal Commission and these other areas aren’t considered critical need zones.
He also said sand alone wouldn’t be enough to protect the train tracks.
“We definitely understand the value of sand nourishment,” he said at the meeting. “It’s a part of all of the alternatives, but I think it depends on site conditions. Sand alone — we don’t think that will provide a long enough term protection.”
San Clemente Leaders Consider Breakwaters
San Clemente city leaders have released a draft Nature-Based Project Feasibility Study that analyzes and recommends anti-erosion solutions that best mimic nature.
The draft study, prepared by consultant Moffatt & Nichol, recommends three breakwaters at the three most critical points of San Clemente’s shoreline affected by erosion — North Beach, Capistrano Shores and San Clemente State Beach.
The three breakwaters would be paired with sand placement to widen the beaches and protect them from wave energy.
Breakwaters are coastal structures, usually made of rock or concrete, built offshore to protect a shoreline from waves and storm surges.
In the draft study, consultants recommend a submerged breakwater at Capistrano Shores and an emergent breakwater at both North Beach and State Beach.
Preliminary concepts depict the submerged breakwater at Capistrano Shore to be about 1,500 feet offshore and in water about 15 to 20 feet deep. It’s also depicted to be about 2,000 feet long and 100 feet wide — a long rectangle in shape. It would be fully underwater and only visible through markers like buoys.
This breakwater could also be paired with two structures made of sand and stone onshore at either end of the new widened beach to help block the sand in the middle from shifting away from the area.
The two proposed emergent breakwaters would be visible from the shoreline since they aren’t fully underwater. Both the North Beach and State Beach designs, made of armored stone material, would be 1,300 feet long and 350 feet wide with rounded ends in a barbell shape that reach out to 700 feet in width.
They’d be located approximately 900 feet offshore in water about 15 feet deep. The barbell shape would help redirect wave energy away from the critical beach zone.
Total costs for the emergent breakwater design, including costs for sand replenishment, is estimated at about $89 million each, according to the draft study. Total cost for the submerged breakwater design come in at about $60 million.
Whitelaw said her organization prefers the submerged breakwater because of its lower effect on wave activity and the cheaper pricetag.
“They can always start with a submerged reef, and if it doesn’t protect the coast enough, add more rock to make it emergent,” she said.
“Any time that humans intervene in nature, there are unintended consequences. We need to tread as lightly as possible to avoid those.”
The three breakwater projects would be considered Phase 1 of the city’s effort to address coastal erosion and widen sandy beaches. The city is currently in Phase 0, which consists of multiple ongoing sand nourishment projects.
[Read: Bringing Sand Back to San Clemente’s Beaches]
The city already has a 50-year partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that’s expected to place approximately 200,000 cubic yards of sand every five to six years.
The city also has ongoing partnerships with the Orange County Transportation Authority, the San Diego Association of Governments and OC Parks that are all working to place sand on San Clemente’s beaches over the next several years.
At the same time, the city is exploring offshore sand options that would be cheaper than trucking in sand from somewhere inland — like they’ve done in the past. The city is expected to launch a seven-day dredging project within the next few months.
[Read: San Clemente Prepares to Launch Dredging Project to Find Offshore Sand Source]
Transportation Officials Explore Other Solutions
Apart from the emergency response, the transportation authority is also discussing other short- and medium-term solutions to protect the train tracks for the next 10 to 30 years.
During Tuesday night’s public study session, a panel of representatives from the OC Transportation Authority and engineering consultants presented a menu of options for various locations along the seven-mile stretch of track in San Clemente.
Gheorghe Rosca Jr., representing the engineering firm known as HDR, presented a variety of options for different spots along the rail line that the organization is exploring.
The options are still broad and were broken down into three categories: bluffside, beachside and rail.
Bluffside improvement options include things like catchment walls and ground and drainage improvements to help prevent landslides from damaging the tracks.
Proposed beachside solutions include riprap placement, sand placement, rock revetments, seawalls and other shoreline protection and sand retention structures to help keep the sand in place on the beach and protect the area from waves.
Rail proposals include elevated tracks, ground improvements and alternative materials for railroad infrastructure to strengthen the tracks and help protect them from damage.
During Tuesday’s meeting, San Clemente residents gave feedback on the proposed options.
Boucly, OC Transit Authority project spokesperson, said the group will refine the options using feedback from the public and other stakeholders before returning with more detailed proposals.
He said they will return for another public meeting sometime at the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026. A draft feasibility report is expected by mid-2026 with a final report expected by the end of 2026 before any official action is taken.
San Clemente City Councilmember Mark Enmeier attended the meeting and spoke to the panel, expressing concerns about the long timeline.
“When I hear that it’s going to be about 18 months before we’re looking at the end of the study — before we even start considering action — I get concerned,” he said.
“You mentioned we could have another big storm. That could be six months away. We know that sand retention works. Those solutions are great solutions. Why aren’t we speeding up that timeline for solutions that we know are feasible?”
Whitelaw, president of Save Our Beaches San Clemente, continues to advocate for sand over any other alternative.
“We disagree with any option that is not sand,” she said in a text message. “We believe that [OCTA] can strengthen their revetment without widening it, and then add sand. Wide sandy buffers protected their tracks for 125 years.”
Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.