The first step is figuring out how to add sand to San Clemente’s beaches – but also, what can be done to make the grains stick around longer?
Another piece of the complex puzzle of helping the sand-starved beaches: How would the small coastal city afford the millions it could cost to build back its beaches, and would residents be willing to pass a tax to help fund maintaining the important recreational and tourist draw of the beach town?
City officials, consultants and the community gathered in San Clemente recently for a town hall to discuss ideas, a brainstorming session to solve the problem this town and many other coastal cities are grappling with as their beaches continue to erode.
“Getting sand on our beach is the first step in this process,” Councilmember Mark Enmeier said.
“The second part is maintaining that sand, keeping that sand from going back into the ocean,” he said. “This is incredibly vital that we have the sand and that we keep it, especially as we see stronger (wave) surges coming in more frequently, as we have in the last decade.”
Key to retaining sand is building designs that replicate nature, he said, a long but important process to think about the future of the town’s beaches.
“We have to get it right. We can’t afford to not get it right,” he said. “Our beaches are part of who we are. I grew up here, on the beach. It’s hard to think of San Clemente without it. That’s why it is so pivotal that we take the steps now so we have a beach not just for ourselves, but our future generations.”
San Clemente Coastal Administrator Leslea Meyerhoff said there are several ways the city is approaching building back its beaches, including the City Council recently approving the start of the process to get permitting in place to take advantage of “opportunistic sand” sources in the future, continuing to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a project that will add 251,000 cubic yards of sand near the pier…
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