REGION — Solana Beach and Encinitas leaders have entered into a 50-year partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the federal government to expand and protect 15,000 feet of shoreline through a sand replenishment project.
The agreement will bring just over one million cubic yards of dredged sand to two segments of shoreline in Encinitas and Solana Beach, work that is expected to begin this fall.
Rep. Mike Levin (D-Dana Point) secured $30 million in federal funding for the long-awaited coastal resiliency project known as the USACE Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project, which has been in the works since 2000.
The congressman was joined by the mayors of the two cities and Col. Julie Balten, Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles district commander, at Fletcher Cove Community Center on Thursday to officially sign the agreement.
“It is really wonderful to be here today celebrating this significant milestone,” said Solana Beach Mayor Lesa Heebner. “This project is so important to our recreation, to our beautiful beaches, to public safety, to preserving the infrastructure that is important to all of our daily lives, and really improving the quality of life for everyone who comes to visit our beaches.”
The project will include the construction of protective berms along two shoreline segments in Encinitas and Solana Beach. In addition, sand will be brought in from offshore via a dredge and pumped onto the beach in a slurry.
The first 50-foot-wide berm will go on a 7,800-foot stretch from north of Swami’s Beach to south of Beacon’s Beach in Encinitas using 340,000 cubic yards of sediment. In Solana Beach, crews will construct a 150-foot-wide berm along a 7,200-foot segment using around 700,000 cubic yards of sand.
Leaders emphasized that this project is one of a kind in both Southern California and the country due to the scheduled renourishment of a combined 510,000 cubic yards of sand every 10 years. The Army Corps of Engineers will monitor this element of the project continuously.
“We’re just gonna continuously monitor and adjust as we need to, but alway try to maximize the amount of sand we [add] every nourishment,” Balten said.
Once the pumping begins, residents may be asked to avoid certain sections of the beach to maintain public safety. The result will be a more expansive beach with more space for visitors to enjoy during high and low tides.
“We are very excited to be at this phase. Over the past few years, we all have noticed more coastal erosion along our shoreline,” said Encinitas Mayor Tony Kranz. “It is, in fact, imperative that we acknowledge that the beach sand nourishment projects are the way of the future.”
The same day, Levin signed a sand replenishment agreement with leaders in San Clemente that will widen a segment of the beach by around 50 feet. The project location was chosen to protect the tracks of the LOSSAN (Los Angeles- San Luis Obispo-San Diego) corridor running through the city.
Commuter rail service between San Clemente and San Diego was stalled last week after a landslide at the western edge of the historic Casa Romantica Cultural Center sent dirt and debris down the hillside above the tracks.
While sand replenishment can stabilize the beaches and prevent further erosion, the congressman said the safest thing is to move some portions of the rail corridor inland off the deteriorating bluffs.
“Mother Nature always wins,” said Levin. “We’ve gotta replenish the sand, but ultimately we’ve gotta move the rail corridor at the sections that are most at risk, which of course, includes Del Mar, and I believe, also includes San Clemente.”
