San Clemente is taking a close look at how sea-level rise and sand erosion will impact the coastal town, recently releasing a report detailing ways to keep its greatest resource, the beach, from disappearing as the ocean moves inland.
The the city’s Coastal Resiliency Plan, now a draft, would help “the city with long-range planning and guidance to address future potential sea level rise and its effects on storm surge, shoreline erosion and coastal flooding in the city.”
Scheduled to be discussed by the City Council in December, the draft plan is closing its public commenting period on Thursday, Nov. 18.
The report details vulnerable sections of the coastline, which has suffered severe erosion in recent years, and infrastructure that may suffer if no actions are taken.
“The situation in San Clemente is such that most of everything you see along the beach – the trail, the train tracks, the homes, the lifeguard headquarters, the Fisherman’s Restaurant – everything is built on the beach,” said Ben Benumof, who serves on the city’s coastal subcommittee addressing such issues.
At stake is a robust economic driver that draws upward 3 million people each year, who are responsible for more than $67 million in annual spending and more than $130,000 in annual city tax revenue, according to 2013 figures cited in the report.
“While the city has a long history of addressing existing coastal hazards, this is the first focused endeavor by the city to identify possible responses to climate change impacts at the coast,” the report says. “Ideally, this planning will lead to securing a dedicated funding source to protect the community and natural resources, which make San Clemente such a desirable location to live, work, play and visit.”
It is important, Benumof said, for the city to be “very proactive” in figuring out how to keep its beaches sandy for visitors but also as an important buffer to protect infrastructure.
Benumof said it comes down to two things: protecting what’s behind the rip rap that lines much of the shore – the railway, the beach trail and homes – but also maintaining the beach in front of the rocks to keep the recreation amenity. The large boulders can cause more of the sand to be washed away.
The document under consideration analyzes what would happen at various sections of the coastline with the degrees of sea level rise expected in the next several years and the next several decades.
If the worst-case sea level rise occurs, shoreline erosion could reach the coastal bluffs landward of the train tracks, the report warns. Bluff top land and existing structures could be vulnerable to slides.
Sea level rise could also have an impact on beach rescues.
One of the vulnerable buildings is the Marine Safety Headquarters north of the pier. Already, the city is awaiting a relocation study that is due to be completed in 2023.
As sea levels rise, relocating the lifeguard headquarters to the parking lot on other side the railroad tracks may be necessary. Emergency response vehicles responding on the beach could potentially be limited by more water, the report warns.
The city may need to buy an additional rescue boat or personal watercraft to respond to emergencies versus planning for beach response, the report says. “Certain areas of city beach may require emergency vehicles to respond via streets to beach and water related emergencies.”
A major sand replenishment project awaiting federal funding approval could give the Marine Safety Headquarters a buffer from the ocean – but the project, in the works for 20 years, is still pending.
The report details sand replenishment plans by the US Army Corps of Engineers for a 50-year beach sand replenishment program to address shoreline erosion. If that project has funding approved by the Senate in the next few weeks it would add an initial 251,000 cubic yards of sand from Linda Lane beach to T-street beach as early as 2022.
“San Clemente is ahead of many other cities who are just beginning the process of coastal resiliency planning,” city officials said in the report. “Conversely, the fact that this project has been in development for two decades underscores the long lead times associated with implementing a coastal resiliency project due to all of the necessary steps and funding commitments that must be secured federally from the state and well as the city.”
The report makes suggestions for the city, such as moving forward with the federal sand replenishment program already in the works but also teaming with regional partners such as the county, OCTA, Caltrans, Dana Point, California State Parks and Camp Pendleton to come up with other sea-level rise resiliency strategies.
The city should also reestablish a shoreline and beach monitoring program conducted each spring and fall on an annual basis, the report recommends.
There should also be a beach nourishment strategy put in place for North Beach and other adaptation measures pursued, such as building offshore sand retention structures like artificial reefs.
Nearby watersheds should be utilized to restore natural sediment flow and the city should maybe consider relocating roadways, railways and infrastructure from the shoreline and allowing coastal processes to be restored to a more natural state, the report says.
Benumof said no one actually knows what will happen with sea level rise in the future, but there are ways to save the sand-starved beaches now that can help keep the ocean at bay.
He used a project in Encinitas as an example,where a “living shoreline” was put in place on top of rock boulders, with cobblestone and vegetation to keep sand in place.
“What’s really simple to me, the thing you can do is try and create that dune environment wherever it doesn’t exist and make it the entire coastline, so any beach nourishment is blended into that,” he said. “It doesn’t do any good to put sand in front of rip rap, it’s just going to go away.”
The idea of a living shoreline was also mentioned in the city’s report and is also being explored by OC Parks for the battered Capistrano Beach north of San Clemente.
In other areas, like the south end of town that recently saw bluff failure and damage to the railroad, pouring cobblestone offshore could be considered.
The Coastal Commission has to approve any projects the city decides on, with extensive studies and funding sources among the hurdles.
Find the report and how to comment at san-clemente.org.
