‘Sand, and lots of it’ is key to saving Oceanside beaches, federal study says (original) (raw)

More sand is the best solution to the erosion that has narrowed two-thirds of Oceanside’s beaches to ribbons of rock, states a new report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers based on a study in the works for nearly 26 years.

Officially called the San Diego County Shoreline (Oceanside) Mitigation Study, it recommends the federal government dredge sand from the ocean and place it on Oceanside beaches every 10 years to cover losses made worse by Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton’s harbor built in 1942.

The long-delayed study led to an examination of three possible alternatives to correct the problem: restore sand on the beach; restore the sand and build a series of jetty-like, rock groins to slow erosion; or do nothing.

Alternative 1 was selected based on an assessment of the costs, expected technical performance and environmental impacts, Corps officials said in a public notice posted May 30. As the preferred alternative, it focuses on the Corps’ two primary objectives, which are mitigating sand losses caused by the harbor and restoring pre-harbor beach conditions.

The federal project would be in addition to other replenishment efforts planned or underway. One of those is the Corps’ annual harbor channel dredging, which most years only produces enough sand to widen the beaches north of the city’s municipal pier.

“For 26 years, Oceanside has been asking the federal government for one thing: a real plan to bring back the sand this harbor took,” said Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, on Monday. “Today, we finally have it. And the answer is simple — sand, and lots of it.”

An initial study by the Corps of Engineers in 2000 concluded that the Camp Pendleton harbor and the adjacent Oceanside harbor accelerated erosion on beaches to the south. The jetties at the entrance shared by the two harbors block the ocean’s longshore currents that carry sand along the coast, causing wide beaches north of the harbor and narrow ones south of it.

To help find a solution, the Corps began a subsequent shoreline mitigation study in 2016 with plans to complete it within three years, but the effort stalled in 2017 when the federal funding for it dried up. After years of waiting, Levin helped secure 1.8millionfromtheBipartisanInfrastructureLawin2022andthenanadditional1.8 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2022 and then an additional 1.8millionfromtheBipartisanInfrastructureLawin2022andthenanadditional2.27 million in 2025 to complete the study.

The public notice for the completed study can be found on the Corps of Engineers website. Anyone interested has until June 30 to submit comments on the study and its related documents.

Oceanside launched its own sand replenishment and retention effort several years ago, in part out of frustration with the lack of progress by the federal study.

That led to what’s now called Re:Beach, a pilot project to restore about two blocks of shoreline with sand from nearby ocean deposits. If successful, the city would like to expand the project further south.

A unique aspect of the local effort is that it includes the construction of two headlands — which are a sort of short, stubby, landscaped groin — and a butterfly-shaped artificial reef at the edge of the surf zone to help slow beach erosion and protect the added sand.

Locals said they see no conflict between the local and federal projects.

“The Army Corps’ proposed Alternative 2 project is massively different than the Re:Beach project headlands,” said Jayme Timberlake, Oceanside’s coastal zone administrator.

The federal study looked at the possibility of placing a field 11 rock groins up to 900 feet long spaced out along the beach from North Coast Village south to about Wisconsin Avenue.

“By comparison, the two headlands that the Re:Beach project proposes are 150 feet long, providing beach amenities like marine safety towers, signage and seating on the top of the headland like a beachfront park, with a subgrade rocky outcrop that could extend below the sand another 150 feet,” Timberlake said in an email Wednesday. “The length of the two shore perpendicular headland constructs for the Re:Beach project are at maximum 300 feet.”

Sand has diminished along the Oceanside coast, shown here along The Strand on April 4, 2024. (U-T file)

The Corps’ sand-only project aligns with and complements Oceanside’s project, Timberlake said.

But while city officials are “thrilled” with the release of the Corps’ report, she said, it’s likely to be “a long road” before the federal sand replenishment can be accomplished. Years of design work, engineering and permit applications are needed before the project can qualify for the grant funding it will need to start construction.

“Re:Beach, poised to be shovel ready by the end of 2027, is expected to be constructed well ahead of the federal project,” Timberlake said. “Still, the … Army Corps’ effort, will eventually complement the Re:Beach project by supplying sand to the project area and beyond.”

Information in the federal shoreline study will be useful for Oceanside and other agencies planning sand projects for North County beaches, she said.

The Corps completed similar studies for two replenishment efforts that began in 2024 — one a joint effort in Encinitas and Solana Beach, the other in San Clemente just north of Camp Pendleton. Both those federal projects have been approved for additional sand deliveries every seven to 10 years for the next 50 years.

Oceanside’s original plan called for placing more sand on the beach and protecting it there by building four 600-foot-long groins, 1,000 feet apart, extending into the ocean near the end of Wisconsin Avenue. The plan was presented to the Oceanside City Council in August 2021, and the council agreed to spend $1 million on advancing the proposal.

However, that idea met significant opposition from downstream coastal cities, who feared the long groins would stop sand from flowing to their beaches.

Oceanside then decided to modify its proposal. It allocated an additional 2.3millionin2023toadvancetheideawithadesigncompetitionthatledtotheRe:Beachproject.Nowwellintothefinaldesignandpermittingstages,itwillneedyet−to−be−awardedgrantfundingforconstructionroughlyestimatedatmorethan2.3 million in 2023 to advance the idea with a design competition that led to the Re:Beach project. Now well into the final design and permitting stages, it will need yet-to-be-awarded grant funding for construction roughly estimated at more than 2.3millionin2023toadvancetheideawithadesigncompetitionthatledtotheRe:Beachproject.Nowwellintothefinaldesignandpermittingstages,itwillneedyet−to−be−awardedgrantfundingforconstructionroughlyestimatedatmorethan50 million.

Also, the Re:Beach project and any other sand replenishment efforts will need review and approval from the California Coastal Commission. That process also can be time-consuming and may include additional mitigation requirements that further boost the costs.

Levin, at a news conference Monday in Oceanside, said he will continue to fight for federal funding for sand replenishment projects.

“Now we have the plan, and I won’t let up until that sand is on our beaches for good,” Levin said.

Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez and others at the conference thanked Levin for his assistance in obtaining money for the city’s harbor and beaches.

““This is an incredible point that we now have a project,” Sanchez said. “That two-year study that took from before 2000 until now finally did happen and finally came up with the best alternative.”

“Oceanside is doing things that no other community on our coastline is doing,” said Bob Ashton, president and CEO of the group Save Oceanside Sand.

Oceanside’s spring harbor dredge completed May 9 pumped more than 320,000 cubic yards of sediment from the entrance channel to nearby beaches, one of the largest hauls in recent years.

A second, smaller dredging is planned for September, transitioning the annual maintenance to a fall schedule for the first time. Experts say dredging in the fall will keep the channel open longer and keep sand on the beach longer than doing the work in the spring.