Posted on May 5, 2025
San Clemente officials are getting ready to launch a seven-day offshore sand investigation project as the city grapples with a dwindling shoreline and a lack of funding for sand replenishment.
City officials are debating the most cost-effective way to bring sand to San Clemente’s beaches to battle the effects of coastal erosion that’s been chipping away at the shoreline for decades.
One reason why sand is so expensive is because there isn’t a plentiful site close to the city.
In previous sand replenishment projects, the city has paid millions of dollars to either truck sand from the Santa Ana River or dredge sand offshore of Huntington Beach.
Coastal engineers have identified a need for five to seven million cubic yards of sand to be added over the next 50 years in San Clemente.
City staff estimate that adding that much sand will cost the city approximately $5 to $8 million per year.
But if the city can find a new sand borrow site closer to the San Clemente Pier, that cost could be much lower, allowing the city to get more sand faster and cheaper.
“If we do find (sand) close, if we do strike gold, it would be a quantum change in how we get sand to our beach,” Mayor Steve Knoblock said at the April 15 council meeting.
“It would be incredibly quick, incredibly inexpensive and voluminous. It’s worth the investigation.”
Houses sit just above the waves at Capistrano Shores in San Clemente on April 24, 2025.
During that meeting, Coastal Frontiers Corporation — a city-hired consultant — gave an update on the upcoming offshore sand investigation project.
The plan includes 11 potential sand sites across Orange County’s coastline, ranging from the city’s previous borrow site offshore of Huntington Beach to the north and offshore of Camp Pendleton in San Diego County to the south.
Greg Hearon, an engineer with Coastal Frontiers, said the goal is to find a site with beach-quality sand as close to San Clemente as possible.
“This approach is a balance between the desire to really focus on the San Clemente area, with the realization that we think there’s a low probability we’re going to find that sand close by,” he said at the meeting.
He said the chances are greater in areas slightly farther away from the city.
“Worst case scenario — we don’t have any good sites, and we’re probably moving up to the north Orange County area,” Hearon said.
A mother and child at North Beach in San Clemente on April 24, 2025.
Councilmember Victor Cabral questioned why the city would spend time and money exploring borrow sites with a low probability of providing the right kind of sand.
“We spent millions of dollars through the Army Corps of Engineers surveying all the area in front of San Clemente,” Cabral said. “My understanding is that they had determined, based on the same testing that you appear to be doing, that there was no sand in this area … What is it that you’re doing differently than the Army Corps did?”
Hearon said his team will be dredging near areas that were already explored by the Army Corps of Engineers, but not the exact same spots. He also emphasized that there are new sites in this study that have not been dredged previously.
“Unfortunately, nearest the city itself, they’re probably in the low to very low probability of finding sand,” Hearon said. “However, if we do find sand there, it’s a great payoff because it greatly reduces the cost of a beach nourishment project.”
The study comes after San Clemente voters narrowly rejected a sales tax measure in November that was specifically earmarked for sand replenishment.
It also comes after the county’s transportation agency got approval from the state to place some sand and rock along the Pacific Surfliner rail line that runs through San Clemente to protect it from landslides and coastal erosion.
A train arriving at the San Clemente Train Station in San Clemente on April 24, 2025.
Hearon said the team plans to begin the dredging process with sites nearest to San Clemente and travel farther away until they find a site that shows promise.
The seven-day investigation is planned for either August or September, and a final report is expected by the end of the year.
