From ocregister.com

The Orange County Transportation Authority has the green light to add to rock revetments and build a 1,223-foot-long seawall along south San Clemente to protect train tracks where they run beachfront from a threatening sea; a plan that also includes adding sand to the north and south ends of town as a buffer between the tracks and the ocean.

The agency’s controversial proposal was approved by the California Coastal Commission on Thursday, Nov. 5. Dozens of speakers called for not just one big shot of sand, but for requirements that a sandy beach is maintained as part of mitigation for erosion damage following years of rock dumping to armor the train tracks against the waves.

As a compromise, the commissioners added a study period of five years to assess whether the 450,000 cubic yards of sand planned for the southernmost stretch of San Clemente is enough mitigation in light of the nearly 50,000 tons of rip rap previously installed along the beachside tracks, and the 2,100 tons of new rock embankment to be added. It is estimated the additional boulders will take up about 3.5 acres of beach space.

Another 250,000 cubic yards of sand will be placed between the San Clemente Pier and North Beach, the total making for the largest sand replenishment project in decades to happen in South Orange County.

The sand project is expected to cost nearly $100 million, a third of the $305 million in state and federal funds earmarked for protecting the vulnerable rail corridor.

Coastal Commission CEO Kate Huckelbridge said the discussion highlights the stark realities and challenges the state is facing up and down the coast, especially apparent this year with forecasted El Niño, she said.

“We have to figure out how we are going to adapt our coastlines in a way that still provides the services and benefits that we all have grown accustomed to, but we don’t lose our beaches as a result,” Huckelbridge said. “And we are really in danger of that happening. And so here, today, we are trying to find a solution.

“These are the challenges that we’re gonna face as a body, and it’s gonna get harder and harder and more intense.”

The 10-year permit granted to the OCTA comes with several mitigations, such as creating public access improvements and a long-term railroad adaptation study, and the five-year check-in to see if the sand mitigation plan is adequate.

Many speakers called on the OCTA to maintain a beach width between 50 and 80 feet, with a threshold set for when beaches would need to be re-nourished, rather than a one-shot supply. While several commissioners agreed, staff said not enough information was available and such a requirement needed more study.

The five-year study to assess how long the sand will stay in place, what it would cost to maintain a wide beach and other environmental factors, and whether OCTA should do more to mitigate damage was added following hours of discussion Thursday.

Environmentalists and critics have battled against armoring plans because the rock revetments often used in emergencies can worsen erosion and take up valuable beach space.

At times during higher tides, the ocean hits directly onto the tracks in areas of San Clemente, making some of the town’s beaches impassable. Commission staff said in a southern section, sand has eroded from 200 feet to less than 80 feet in fewer than 10 years.

OCTA CEO Darrell Johnson said the erosion and bluff failures in San Clemente have caused more than 12 months of emergency rail closures since 2021.

“There’s economic impacts that are absolutely critical on the rail corridor,” he said.

The sand placement represents “a historic beach nourishment and an unprecedented investment by OCTA,”  Johnson said. “We think this is the single largest beach placement since the mid 1960s in this area. And the fact that the transportation authority is undertaking that, we also think is historic.”

Mitigation costs with the permit are an added $227 million, he said, over and above the $305 million in funding already secured. In addition to the $94 million to add sand, if it were later required that the seawall and riprap be removed, that would cost $105 million, and studying and monitoring the area is an added $28 million, he said.

“We do support the mitigation that addresses the project impacts and appreciate the commission staff’s hard work toward the conditions that protect our coastal resources,” he said, adding that OCTA wanted the permit to be 30 years – 20 years with two five-year check-ins – rather than the commission’s recommended 10-year lifespan that allows for two five-year extensions.

The $305 million in state and federal funding came with an expectation that long-term solutions were found, Johnson noted.

But those solutions shouldn’t come at the cost of public beaches, said several speakers.

“The question before the commission is not whether the railroad should be protected,” said Nathan Banta, tribal chairman for the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation. “It is whether that protection can be accomplished without continuing to sacrifice the very coastline that makes this region so important. Our children and grandchildren should not inherit a coastline where the beaches have disappeared because temporary decisions became permanent solutions.”

San Clement City Manager Andy Hall said he’s grateful for the inclusion of nearly 700,000 cubic yards of sand in the plan, but also said it is obvious that where rip rap has been dumped, sand has vanished.

“A once healthy beach is now gone and water routinely inundates the tracks,” Hall said.

Where sand and, even better, vegetated sand dunes, though not in the proposal here, thrive, ironically, that is where the tracks are best protected and under the least amount of threat, Hall said.

“I hope you will choose to do something notable that can be used as a model everywhere along the California coast,” he said. “I am convinced that everyone wants to do the right thing.”

Hall gave other suggestions, such as requiring camera technology that allowed for quicker recognition of sand loss and a ready supply of geobags that can help slow down wave force.

Most importantly, the definition of an emergency should be reevaluated, he said, not when tracks get damaged from the ocean, but when sand gets too narrow to protect the rocks.

Save Our Beaches founder Suzie Whitelaw showed slides that illustrated “flank erosion” scouring sand away to the north each time rocks were placed down since 2019.

“So we’re gonna be back here talking to you again and again and again for the next 10 years, and you’re gonna be seeing more and more rock and seawall added to our beaches, unless you do one simple thing, which is require them to maintain a wide sandy beach in front of any armoring that they put in,” she argued.

Resident Lisa Gant and Save Our Beaches member called on the Coastal Commission to minimize the armoring footprint allowed on the beach.

“Require that they replenish that sand in a standardized schedule of monitoring and maintenance,” she said. “It is a buffer of sand that will protect their tracks and save our beach.”

Already, beaches in the area have been destroyed and are no longer a place she can enjoy with her grandkids, she said.

“The graveyard of sharp, dangerous rocks, piled high and wide, have not done the trick,” she said. “The power of that ocean has battered and tossed those huge boulders around like beach balls. It is no longer a pristine beach.”

The commission staff opted to not recommend required regular replenishment until they could learn more about how sand will move once it gets on the beach, if it will stick around, Huckelbridge said.

“We really need some time to study that,” she said. “So we give ourselves some time to study it with the intent of having more information for the next authorization term.”

Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley, also a member of the OCTA board, urged the commission to approve the permit, the quickest way to get sand on the beach with a dredger on the West Coast currently doing work in Oregon that can be in San Clemente by January.

“Sand on the beach is the solution. We all agree on that,” she said, noting hope for a dedicated dredger that can remain on the West Coast.

In a press release after the commission meeting, OCTA officials said the transportation authority is “reviewing” the conditions for the permit “and their implications for project implementation, long-term maintenance and funding, while continuing to responsibly manage transportation dollars and protect coastal resources.”

Huckelbridge noted that much of the rock revetment has already been placed down, but if the project wasn’t approved, what wouldn’t happen is the sand element. The beaches are critical, she said.

“They’re critical to our identities, our identity as Californians, to these communities, to their economies,” she said. “And it’s something we have to really put first and foremost in our minds.”

Commissioner Ray Jackson said it is important to “keep the ball moving forward,” even without a perfect solution.

“I don’t want to let perfection be the enemy of good; there is no easy answer,” he said. “Doing nothing while we hope things get better is never an option.”

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