San Clemente to cover added costs to repair one beach, buys more sand for another
A federally-supported Shoreline Protection Project in San Clemente around the city’s pier is set to resume next month at an increased cost.
The San Clemente City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to cover new expenses, estimated at $2.6 million, in order to complete the first phase of the half-century sand replenishment plan.
“If we don’t continue with this project right now, the 20 years that we’ve invested in this…is gone,” Mayor Victor Cabral said. “We would have to start all over.”
Citing a need for revenue to address beach erosion, San Clemente City Council approved a ballot measure that would increase the sales tax by half a percent.
With an original $14-million price tag, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversaw the beach nourishment work as it initially began dredging sand off the coast of Oceanside late last year to shore up San Clemente’s beaches.
But the borrow site spewed cobble-strewn sediment when pumped on to the stretch of beach between T-Street and Linda Lane, which caused the Army Corps to agree to delay the project.
Once a new borrow site that pumped beach quality sand was located at Surfside-Sunset Beach in north Orange County, the project resumed in April and added 114,000 cubic yards of sand before pausing work over the summer.
“The Army Corps is asking for additional funding,” Leslea Meyerhoff, San Clemente’s coastal administrator, told council members. “The borrow site that we’re now using is further away than the original borrow site.”
In addition to increased transportation costs, the Army Corps will also have to restage the beach for construction in order to finish pumping 86,000 cubic yards of sand.
A statement from the group Bring Back Our Beaches urged council members to cover the added costs.
“Approving more sand now not only continues our progress but also capitalizes on federal subsidies that we cannot afford to miss,” the statement read.
In the first phase of the project, San Clemente is responsible for 35% of the costs. As future nourishment cycles are set to take place every five to six years, the cost-sharing agreement will increase to 50%.
It’s an expense that San Clemente voters will weigh in on in November with Measure BB, a ballot initiative aimed at increasing the sales tax by a half-percent to help fund its share of the Shoreline Protection Project going forward.
Before then, council members voted to direct City Manager Andy Hall to pen a letter to the Army Corps indicating San Clemente’s intention to complete the project’s first-phase while shouldering the added costs.
While the Army Corps is readying to resume work by the pier, San Clemente stands to catch a break elsewhere as city-hired construction crews are currently ahead of schedule on an emergency sand replenishment project at North Beach, which is more critically eroded.
Public Works Director Dave Rebensdorf noted during Tuesday’s meeting that the local contractor is slated to complete its work in 45 days, half the time of the original 90-day period.
If the project stopped at that time, the cost would draw down from $2 million to $1.75 million.
San Clemente has also been able to pocket savings on administrative and management costs.
The added time allowed for council members to consider putting those savings to use by dumping up to 7,000 cubic yards of remaining sand collected from the Santa Ana River basin above and beyond the 30,000 cubic yards initially slated for North Beach, while remaining at the original $2-million budget.
Dump trucks are set to haul 30,000 cubic yards of sand to San Clemente’s critically eroded stretch of beach this summer to stave off risks associated with its vanishing coastline.
“Bottom line here, we’re getting huge savings for our community by continuing and stepping this up for 7,000 cubic yards as opposed to waiting until next season when we would have to start all over again,” Councilman Mark Enmeier said.
The prospects of being able to add more sand due to cost savings brought relief to council members who have had to consider multiple projects along San Clemente’s battered coastline in recent years.
All five members voted approvingly.
For Cabral, he’s already seen a return on investment on the emergency plan.
“If anyone has had the opportunity to go down to North Beach, it’s amazing,” the mayor said. “There’s been a number of people now using that beach that were never there before because of the rocks.”
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