The earliest a dredger will be available to resume a sand replenishment project in San Clemente is likely going to be just as the busy summer season starts in the coastal town.
San Clemente officials gave an update Tuesday, Feb. 6, on the project, which remains in limbo after the first attempt resulted in more cobble and rocks being spread near the pier than expected and the city asked for a pause last month to address its concerns about the quality of the sand being delivered.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is spearheading the $14 million project, is evaluating alternate dredging sites that may be better suited with sand and is looking to see if the original Oceanside location tapped is still viable, Mayor Victor Cabral said during Tuesday’s update at the City Council meeting.
With the contractor finishing up a similar replenishment project in Solana Beach, and then set to head to Encinitas for its next scheduled project, it’s likely the dredger couldn’t come back to San Clemente until about May, at the earliest.
“Even if more delay is needed, our position is that in order to complete the 250,000 cubic yards of beach-quality sand, we take the time necessary to find the right borrow site, rather than delivering rocks and gravel that were delivered previously,” Cabral said.
Cabral gave a recap of what led the city to ask the project be halted about three weeks into the dredging, which started in December, with several delays due to the contractor’s dredger breaking. The city had waited some two decades for the project to be approved and funded.
The city has no direct authority to provide guidance to the contractor, since the work agreement is with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he said.
“Under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers, they developed and chose the borrow site,” he said. “It was studied, numerous core samples were collected, all during the period of 20 years when we started this project.”
The studies…
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