Massive supplies of sand are being shipped to San Clemente Beach along long-perilous rail lines as part of a massive shoreline project to shore up the fragile rail lines while protecting the area’s shrinking beaches.
The California Coastal Commission on Thursday approved a broad permit that railroad officials hope will help maintain a critical rail line that has faced multiple closures over the past few years from rising sea levels, huge waves and powerful storms — a problem exacerbated by this year’s historic El Niño.
A key element of the permit is the placement of nearly 700,000 cubic yards of sand on portions of the area’s beaches that are shrinking or disappearing entirely, an investment Orange County officials say will be the largest sand replenishment along this coastline in more than 60 years.
“This is the first step in addressing a half-century of inaction in our community,” Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley, a member of the Orange County Transportation Authority board of directors, said during Thursday’s Coastal Commission hearing. She acknowledged that the county has long focused on efforts to “harden” beaches around the railroad, such as seawalls and large rock piles, which can actually increase erosion and sand loss in the long term.
“Beach sand is the solution,” Foley said, urging the commission to approve the permit to ensure the sand replenishment program can move forward. “The wide sandy beach is a necessary buffer to protect the railway line.”
Foley said $300 million in state and federal funding has been provided to help protect the 4 miles of shoreline where the railroad is most threatened, and major sand replenishment work, which will use about a third of that money, could begin as early as January.
The 10-year coastal development permit balances the Orange County Transportation Authority’s emergency work and plans to enhance the rail line, including building a 1,200-foot seawall along the rail line, with mitigation measures to protect the coast and allow public access to nearby beaches. The permit outlines how the Orange County Transportation Authority will be required to maintain and, if possible, remove large rock piles known as riprap and “tieback strips” placed along the inland cliffs of the railroad, both of which were built and expanded under emergency permits when recent storms damaged the railroad.
The permit also requires rail owners and operators to monitor and report on sand replenishment over five years, study the long-term future of the rail line and, perhaps most importantly, study how and where to relocate at-risk rail.
The railroad line, in operation since 1888, has always been vulnerable to the ocean due to its location, but its oceanfront properties are also one of the main attractions that draw visitors to enjoy scenic journeys along Southern California’s iconic coast. But the situation has proven particularly volatile in recent years.
Just last month rail travel was partially closed due to high tides, and just weeks after it was temporarily closed in September due to erosion and slope damage caused by powerful Pacific storms. During the summer, high waves and erosion caused the railway line to close for several days.
OCTA officials said the railroad has been closed for a cumulative 12 months since 2021 due to erosion and bluff failure, and the Coastal Commission said it processed 15 track stabilization projects during the same period, including 10 emergency coastal development permits.
While Coastal Commission staff and OCTA officials called the new permit a partnership that required compromise, dozens of local environmental advocates, surfers, tribal leaders and beachgoers expressed concern Thursday that the agreement does not go far enough to protect the coastline.
“OCTA failed to plan for foreseeable hazards, repeatedly violated its permit, and dumped rocks that depleted San Clemente’s beaches without a reliable protective rail,” one group wrote in a letter to the commission. The letter was signed by the Surfrider Foundation, Orange County Coastkeeper, Save Our Beaches San Clemente and the California Coastal Protection Network. They and others who spoke at Thursday’s meeting asked the commission to require OCTA to retain a 50-foot stretch of beach adjacent to the railroad after sand replenishment.
While many commissioners support the idea, commission staff say the benchmark is too stringent to adopt without understanding how new sand locations will perform in the coming months or years.
“We’re going to need a little time to evaluate what that requirement actually looks like,” said Kate Hacklebridge, executive director of the Coastal Commission. Still, she said that was no reason for inaction and urged commissioners to approve the permit so that some important work can begin and new mandates come into effect, including requiring railroad officials to better plan for the future.
“Things are serious here,” Hacklebridge said. “It highlights all the challenges we face as a council. At this moment in time with El Niño, it’s more serious than ever.”
Staff writers Summer Lin and Rong-Gong Lin contributed to this report.