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San Clemente will begin searching for some “Goldilocks” sand it can use to replenish its shorelines.Coastal erosion has left some of the city’s beaches with only a narrow strip of sand — cutting off public access in some areas and threatening to interrupt the beach-front train service that connects Los Angeles County and San Diego County.
Beach access is also a major reason why people visit the city, fueling the local economy.A 50-year sand replenishment project. But finding a perfect sand match is proving easier said than done. Sand that is too fine, for example, will just wash away. Sand grains that are too big won’t fill in the gaps as needed.Now, the city is looking for and testing sand reserves closer to its own shores. Finding a local supply will save taxpayers funds.San Clemente will begin searching offshore from Dana Point to Camp Pendleton for some “Goldilocks” sand it can useover the years has left some of the city’s beaches with only a narrow strip of sand — cutting off public access in some areas and threatening to interrupt the beach-front train service that connects Los Angeles County and San Diego County. Beach access is also a major reason why people visit San Clemente, fueling the local economy.San Clemente city leaders gave the green light last week to the group Coastal Frontiers Corporation to begin using a dredging tool — a bit like a lawnmower — to sweep the sea floor at various locations south of the city in a bid to find a perfect sand match.Sand that is too fine, for example, will just wash away. Sand grains that are too big won’t fill in the gaps as needed. But finding that “beach quality” sand is proving easier said than done. When the project started in 2023, the city first used sand from Oceanside, but it was too rocky and ultimately deemed unsuitable, leading to the project being stalled. The city then went north to the Huntington Beach-Seal Beach area for sand, a distance that drove up costs.How much sand are we talking about? More than you can imagine. Under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ sand replenishment project, every five years, around 200,000 cubic yards of sand will be deposited on a half-mile stretch of beach between T Street and Linda Lane. By the end of the 50-year project, around 2 million cubic yards of sand will have been deposited.“If an adequate sand borrow site can be located closer to the receiving beaches, the environmental impacts of transporting the sand will be reduced and there will be significant savings in the transport costs,” city staff wrote in the accompanying staff report. Mayor Steve Knoblock said during last week's City Council meeting that ”by turning over every stone, we're doing our citizens a favor and the Coastal Commission's paying for this.”According to the group tasked with the investigation project, there is a risk of failure because the sand of Dana Point is a bit of a mystery. “ I still think Dana Point is intriguing enough to look at, there's some risk involved there, and part of the reason it's intriguing to look at is there's not as much information as everywhere else,” Greg Hearon, an engineer with Coastal Frontiers Corporation, said at the council meeting. Hearon cautioned that the dredging could reveal a “hard bottom on the sea bottom because there's no surveys for that,” he said.Want to get involved?Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.San Clemente City Council meetings start at 5:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. You can find more details
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