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Attachment 1
Attachment 1
~ Updated Draft ~
2026 City of San Clemente
Coastal Strategic Plan
Introduction and Purpose
The City has prepared this updated 2026 draft Coastal Strategic Plan which describes ongoing and planned high priority, City projects, programs, associated costs and timelines.
The purpose of this updated draft Coastal Strategic Plan is primarily to inform the community of the City’s efforts to protect and restore the shoreline. Secondarily, this plan has been prepared to obtain community input on the path forward for advancing beach sand replenishment and retention projects in San Clemente and the South Orange County region.
This Draft Strategic Plan was first prepared in 2024 and this 2026 update is intended to serve as a useful, living document that continues to be updated over time as projects are completed and progress is made toward ensuring that San Clemente beaches are resilient to existing erosion challenges and changing future conditions.
Restoring sand to the City’s beaches has been identified by the Council as a top City and overall community priority. Sand is regarded as natural infrastructure that provides a wide range of benefits including shoreline protection against coastal storms, large swells and El Nino events. Maintaining a wide sandy beach also provides recreational space for residents and visitors and supports the beach itself as a significant local economic engine for San Clemente. Just like roads, parks and sewers, the beach requires regular investment and maintenance to keep it functioning at its optimal width.
Additional coastal priorities include further studying of keeping the sand in place through installation of sand retention systems and working collaboratively with residents, businesses and regional, state and federal partners to develop additional community supported coastal resiliency projects.
The City conducted an economic analysis of various funding mechanisms and tools available to generate the necessary revenue to support the projects and programs identified herein. The economic analysis was intended to provide data to support the advancement of the City’s preferred strategy(ies) and revenue generation opportunities for implementation of strategic coastal projects. The City Council voted to place a City Measure (BB) on the ballot in 2024 to create a new local source of coastal resiliency funding. The ballot measure garnered 64.62% of the vote which was just shy of the 66.67% needed.
In 2025, the community began to organize and has since developed their own new community-based initiative to restore the beaches and reduce wildfire risks. The community measure will be on the November 2026 ballot. If the community sponsored measure is successful, the City will be required to prepare a “Beach Protection Operational Plan” within 1 year of the measure passing. This required Plan will outline:
Long term goals for beach restoration and erosion control Project priorities and geographic targets
Sand volumes needed in the short term and for long term maintenance Project timelines and schedules for the projects
Environmental review and permitting requirements
Cost estimates
Financial accountability would be provided through independent audits and an oversight committee and all of the revenue would remain in San Clemente to be used for specific purposes including:
Sand replenishment or nourishment on San Clemente beaches Sand retention and reducing coastal erosion
Improvements and maintenance of coastal access
Improvements and maintenance of the beach trail
Maintenance of the San Clemente Pier
Improved lifeguard equipment and facilities
Coastal Strategic Planning Context and Background
Many of City’s coastal programs and projects that are underway were first identified in the City’s 2021 Coastal Resiliency Plan and as such remain important elements of a comprehensive coastal strategic plan to ensure the coastline is preserved and protected today and for future generations of residents and visitors.
There are 4.7 miles of shoreline in the City (i.e., 24,816 linear feet) which encompasses both City beaches and State Beaches.
1.9 miles of City of San Clemente Beaches
1.15 miles of California State Parks / State Beaches
1.65 miles = @ 0.93 miles at Capistrano Shores & 0.72 miles at Cyprus Shore These is little to no natural sand reaching the San Clemente coastline. In wet years, sand may be brought to the coast from the San Juan Creek or the San Mateo Creek but in dry years and especially periods of prolonged drought there may not be any natural sand arriving to replenish San Clemente’s beaches. This means if the City wants to keep its beaches for the long term, intervention is needed to restore sand to the beach.
In order to nourish all beaches in the City, the City will need to add between 2 million and 9 million cubic yards of sand depending on the optimal beach width desired by the City and community.
For planning purposes, the following assumptions are used.
Each square foot of beach to be created requires an estimated 1.5 yd.³ of sand Multiplying the length of the San Clemente shoreline (24,816 feet) x the desired added beach width, one can derive the target quantity of beach sand needed.
For planning purposes, the following examples and helpful in understanding the amount of sand that is needed to widen San Clemente’s beaches over time:
+ 50 additional feet of beach width requires 2,000,000 yd.³ of sand + 100 additional feet of beach width requires 4,000,000 yd.³ of sand + 150 feet of additional beach width requires 6,000,000 yd.³ of sand + 200 feet of beach with width requires 7,500,000 yd.³ of sand + 250 feet of additional beach width requires 9,000,000 yd.³ of sand As a reference point, SANDAG typically uses 250 feet of additional beach width for regional beach nourishment planning purposes. 250 feet is the typical beach width required to withstand a 100-year coastal storm wave event.
Based on the latest findings of the City’s Shoreline Monitoring Program, beach width in the City, as measured at the transect locations ranged from 2 feet at Cotton’s Beach to 179 feet at T-Street Beach.
Depending on the beach width goals that are established and the timeline set in which to accomplish the goal, numerous, defined, discrete beach sand replenishment projects carried out every few years will be needed in order for the City to widen its beaches.
In order to widen City beaches, identification of additional sand sources is also a top priority. In 2025, the City obtained a grant from the California Coastal Commission to conduct an offshore sand source investigation. Preliminary findings indicate beach sand compatible beach sand deposits may be located offshore and south of the City. More information on the quality of the sand and the volume available is expected to be available in Fall/Winter 2026.
Other agencies will be interested in accessing various sand sources offshore so it is prudent to locate other sand sources that can be used to sustain a City-wide, long term, comprehensive sand nourishment program. Additional sand-retention strategies are also being pursued to keep the sand in place including those in the Nature Based Coastal Project Feasibility Study completed in 2025.
Overview of the San Clemente Draft Coastal Strategic Plan Following are descriptions of projects and planning efforts identified as top, near-term City priorities for Fiscal Years 26/27 through 27/28.
The first category of projects are capital projects. The second category describes ongoing programs or are maintenance efforts that are non-capital in nature.
In summary, the range of funding needed in the City to develop and sustain these programs in the next 50 years is currently estimated at $200M with a target annual revenue need of ~$4M in current dollars.
In advancing a comprehensive, long-term, citywide beach sand replenishment and retention strategy, this document is an important step in defining key projects and programs necessary to advance important City and community objectives as embodied within this Coastal Strategic Plan.
Key recommendations include establishing a Coastal Strategic Plan Capital Improvement Program (CIP) in the next City Budget with dedicated funding to implement coastal resiliency projects listed below. It is important to note that developing a long term, sustainable funding strategy is a fundamental pre-requisite to implement most of the projects in the Coastal Strategic Plan.
Capital Projects
San Clemente Shoreline Sand Replenishment Project
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) 50 Year Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project involves placement of 251,000 cubic yards of sand in the center of the city, north & south of the Municipal Pier. This project is congressionally authorized to repeat every 5-6 years for the next 50 years. Additional details are available at www.sanclemente.gov/sand Goals and Outcomes: Implementation of a long-term beach sand replenishment program at the City’s main beach with planned placement of 2 million cubic yards of sand over 50-year project life.
Estimated Cost: Stage 1 was completed in 2024. The next cycle is expected to begin in 2027 with the initiation of the Pre-Construction Planning and Design (PED) phase. PED cost is expected to be $3M and is 50/50 cost shared between the USACE and the City. Future renourishment events are dependent on securing funding. The last official 50-year cost was $240M and would be generally shared 50/50. Some costs, such as the required periodic cost updates, are not cost shared with the City and are paid for solely by the USACE. The current Non-Federal 50-year cost is $120M for 8 planned renourishment events. The project cost is subject to recertification every three years and costs may increase.
Implementation Notes: City needs to identify a new sand source and dedicated funding source to ensure full participation in this 50 year federally cost shared project. Future renourishment events beginning in FY28/29 are cost shared 50/50 federal and non-federal. City would need to seek State Parks funding support again and ideally develop a dedicated funding source to ensure project delivery. City has applied for a State Parks grant for FY27/28. USACE will need City funds to initiate PED in 2027 in order for the project to remain on schedule for renourishment @ year 6 (i.e., 2030).
Capital Projects
SANDAG Regional Beach Sand III Project (RBSP)
Goals and Outcomes: The goal in developing this project is to supplement the federal beach sand project by placing sand in other areas of the City that do not directly receive sand under the USACE project. This project supports development of a regional beach sand program Similar to USACE beach sand project but likely in different locations in the City. The City is currently participating in the RBSP planning efforts leading to Phase 2 and 3 and the City is also actively engaged with the newly formed Coastal Resilience Task Force which replaced the Shoreline Preservation Group.
Estimated Cost: The cost of the Phase 1 Feasibility Study was $109,512. The Phase 2 cost will be defined in 2027. The Phase 3 cost to the City is currently estimated by SANDAG to be ~$40M for 1 million cubic yards of sand. It is possible that if a closer sand source is available that costs will come down since they are currently predicated on using the Surfside Sunset site.
Implementation Notes: Initiated in Fall 2023. City signed an MOU with SANDAG for Phase 1 of RBSP III. Phase 1 was complete in Summer 2025 and the Phase 1 Feasibility Report is available online at www.sanclemente.gov/sand. This will be a multi-year / multi-phase project that could deliver additional sand to the City in an estimated 3-5 years after environmental and permitting tasks are complete in Phase 2 which is set to be initiated in late 2026 / early 2027.
Nature Based Coastal Project Feasibility Study
Goals and Outcomes: The goal is to define optimized sand retention concepts that are based on replicating natural features like reefs or headlands and using natural materials to the maximum extent. Sand retention is a secondary but important priority to stabilizing a wider beach for the long term and would be designed to keep newly added sand added by USACE project, SANDAG project, SCOUP projects, and OCTA. Additional details are available at www.sanclemente.gov/sand Estimated Cost: Phase 1 was completed in 2022-2025 via a $300,000 grant to the City from the Coastal Commission. Phase 2 is fully funded by a $2M grant awarded to the City in April 2026 from the State Coastal Conservancy. Phase 2 will kick off in Fall 2026 and conclude in late 2029. For reference, the City of Oceanside is estimating $50M cost for RE:BEACH pilot project, Santa Cruz and Pacifica are conducting similar studies but preliminary costs are not yet available. Consultant to develop a pilot project concept which is cost effective and performs well in retaining sand and providing additional surfing and habitat as secondary but important co-benefits.
Implementation Notes: Contractor onboarding expected in Fall 2026 to conduct alternatives analysis, sediment budget analysis, public and tribal outreach and engagement and to collect baseline environmental data and to conduct numerical modeling culminating in a 30% design concept by the end of 2029. A group of technical advisors comprising science and agency experts will be assembled to assist the City in optimizing the phase 2 planning effort. Community input will be another important element in the ultimate design and siting of a sand retention pilot project.
Capital Projects
Sand Clemente Sand Compatibility & Opportunistic Use Program (SCOUP) Goals and Outcomes: Acquisition of all four regulatory agency permits was completed in 2026 and the permits are valid for 10 years. SCOUP allows beach placement of opportunistically available sediments on the City’s beaches via truck as sand becomes available and is subject to City funding availability. Four San Clemente beaches are included & available to receive sand delivered by truck under this program. Additional details are available at www.sanclemente.gov/sand Estimated Cost: Costs to be defined on a project by project basis when sand is available and the City has funding available to implement a SCOUP project. For reference, the 2024 SCOUP project at North Beach delivered 37,000 cubic yards of sand for a total cost of approximately $2M.
Implementation Notes: The City is currently planning a pre-El Nino SCOUP project intended to add new sand to the beaches which will be used to replace the winter storm berm construction by adding new sand for a net increase in overall shorezone volume. The project will be implemented in Fall 2026 and sand will be sourced from a local quarry. Early project activities have been initiated and more information will be shared as it is developed.
The City had SCOUP program in place from 2005-2017 and this program has now been officially reestablished. When beach compatible material is identified, costs would be determined and could include sampling (SAP), coordination with the Southern California Dredged Materials Management Team (DMMT), monitoring and trucking costs. It could include material from Santa Ana River, local quarries, sand from site redevelopment projects and landslide material.
Sand Delivery Via Rail
Goals and Outcomes: Facilitates additional beach sand placement opportunities in the City to restore sandy beaches. Sand delivery via rail is an important tool for the City given the proximity of the railroad along the City’s shoreline and railroad coastal resiliency planning efforts currently underway.
Estimated Cost: Per OCTA in Fall 2023, cost is $375,000 for 15 k. cu. yds cubic yards of sand if delivered via rail car (side dump).
Implementation Notes: City coordinating with OCTA as an important opportunity given the ROW in City. This project could utilize SCOUP permits. Cost for 250k. cu. yds would be $6.2M with linear scaling – source is Prado Dam. Cost does not include environmental or permitting if required beyond SCOUP permits initiated in 2024. City and OCTA remain in ongoing discussions about opportunities to collaborate to support mutual goals of shoreline protection and the protection of critical public infrastructure which includes the sandy beach Capital Projects
Regional Beach Nourishment Projects with South OC Agencies Goals and Outcomes: Regional beach sand nourishment and retention projects developed in collaboration with others including State Parks, OCTA, County of Orange, City of Dana Point, Caltrans and potentially others including private entities.
Estimated Cost: TBD
Implementation Notes: The Draft South OC Regional Coastal Resiliency Strategic Plan was published in 2025. The City is collaborating with other South OC agencies as a member of a regional South Orange County coastal coalition to gage interest in a conceptual regional project.
Marine Safety Headquarters Redevelopment Study
Goals and Outcomes: Supports rebuilding of the City’s Marine Safety Headquarters and will help to identify opportunities and constraints that the City can use to advance building design and location for this critical public safety facility. The Redevelopment Study was completed by HMC Architects in 2023 and it provided four options for future consideration.
Estimated cost: The relocation study has been funded and completed, any future phases for design, permitting and construction will be evaluated as part of the City’s capital improvement program budget process.
An estimated $50,000 is needed to prepare a coastal hazards study to support the facility redevelopment. The City has applied for several grants to fund this study but to date has not been awarded any funding. This effort is on hold until funding can be secured.
Implementation Notes: The Marine Safety Headquarters rebuild project is current in the design phase which was initiated in 2021. This coastal study is necessary to determine the optimal building design and location. Completion of this study is essential to advancing the City’s project and completion is targeted for 2027 subject to funding availability. To meet California Coastal Commission permit requirements, a plan for a new building should be developed prior to 2030, with a potential five year extension to the permit, to allow for construction of the new building.
Planning Efforts & Technical Analyses
Annual Shoreline Monitoring Program
Goals and Outcomes: The general objective of the monitoring program is to document changes in the condition of the shore zone between Dana Point Harbor and San Mateo Point, thereby providing a basis for evaluating the impacts of both natural events and beach replenishment operations. The program includes semi-annual beach profile surveys at 12 representative coastal sites each Fall (October) and Spring (May). In 2026, OCTA joined the program and added six new transects creating an even more robust monitoring program. Additional details are available at www.sanclemente.gov/sand Estimated Cost: The first three years were funded by a grant from the Coastal Commission. The City is now fully funding the program through 2028. FY 26/27 cost = $85,210 with a small cost escalation in subsequent years.
Implementation Notes: The City re-established this program in Fall 2022 which builds on a longer-term historical data set dating back to 1982. High-resolution data set collected each fall and spring. The City’s shoreline monitoring program collects data at 18 transect locations from north of San Juan Creek to Cottons Point. The City’s program tracks regional beach width from the back of the beach to the depth of closure ~ 30 feet of water depth to ensure the entire shoreline profile is captured including offshore sand bars that are below water in winter.
Offshore Sand Source Investigation (OSSI)
Goals and Outcomes: The goal of the OSSI is to find clean, beach quality sand in large volumes, as close to the City as possible, to support a comprehensive, long term beach nourishment in the City. Additional details are available at www.sanclemente.gov/sand Estimated Cost: The City obtained $800,000 in grant funding from the California Coastal Commission to initiate the effort in 2024. This grant money was supplemented by mitigation funds from Metrolink in 2024 and additional funding from OCTA in 2026 as well as City funds in 2026. Total program cost for Phase 1 (September 2025) and Phase 2 (June 2026) was $1,750,000. A Phase 3 is in the planning stages for early 2027 and the costs is not yet defined but would be subject to funding availability.
Implementation Notes: The Phase 1 and Phase 2 fieldwork is complete and the City is waiting to testing results from the sediment sampling. A Phase 3 is in the planning stages for early 2027, depending on the final results from Phase 1 and Phase 2, and the costs are not yet defined but would be subject to funding availability in early 2027.
Planning Efforts & Technical Analyses
South OC Coastal Staff Resiliency Working Group
Goals and Outcomes: Overarching goal is to develop a comprehensive regional beach sand & retention program that is South OC focused. The group works together to identify regional projects that could supplement the USACE project and nourish other beaches in the City. It is anticipated that the South OC Regional Coastal Resiliency Strategic Plan anticipated in Spring 2024 will seek to formalize the relationship between agencies.
Estimated Cost: No additional cost. Participation cost embedded in Coastal Administrator contract. Future costs anticipated when a “project” is identified.
Implementation Notes: This working group is comprised of agency staff who meet quarterly and was initiated in 2023 to promote staff level regional coastal resiliency collaboration. No costs until such time as a “project” is identified. Participating agencies include staff from San Clemente, Dana Point, County of Orange, State Parks, OCTA and Camp Pendleton.
SANDAG Coastal Resilience Task Force
Goals and Outcomes: This is a new group that was established in July 2026 and meets every other month and which supports regional coordination and collaboration on beach sand projects, sand retention strategies, shoreline monitoring and other technical studies. This group will be the entity that facilitates the SANDAG RBSP III in 2027.
Estimated Cost: No additional cost. Participation cost embedded in Coastal Administrator contract.
Implementation Notes: Underway as of 2023. Includes San Clemente, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar, San Diego, County of Orange, State Parks, Dana Point, OCTA, Camp Pendleton and other regional partners including UCSD Scripps and UCI.
On Call Coastal Engineering Services
Goals and Outcomes: Ensures technical expertise is readily available to the City as-needed basis.
Estimated Cost: $25,000 / year
Implementation Notes: Coastal Frontiers is under contract to the City for technical support. 2 | Page