OCEANSIDE — Mayors of coastal cities in North San Diego and South Orange counties are preparing a regional summit in the next few weeks to discuss solutions for coastal erosion.
San Clemente Mayor Chris Duncan and City Manager Andy Hall initiated what they’re calling the Coastal/California 7 Summit, or “C7 Summit” — a play on the international G7 Summit, which gathers member countries to discuss world peace — to target coastal erosion and resiliency throughout the seven coastal cities of Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Clemente and Dana Point.
Each of these cities’ mayors has agreed to meet together in Oceanside, the largest of the C7 cities, at the end of October.
All seven cities struggle with some form of coastal erosion – whether it’s collapsing bluffs, depleting beach sand or both.
“The purpose of this is to look at ways to protect our coastlines and build resiliency,” Duncan said. “I don’t think any of us are equipped to tackle this regional issue alone, but if we can band together, we have a better chance of getting the help all of us need instead of working separately.”
More specifically, help could include federal grants and projects that would tackle the issue as a region rather than each individual city, Duncan explained.
San Clemente faces both severe bluff and beach sand erosion.
“We’ve always had narrower beaches, but if you look at the size of the beach over the last 20 years, they’re significantly smaller,” Duncan said.
San Clemente’s erosion stems from a combination of factors, including rail line infrastructure interrupting natural sand flow from the bluffs, a lack of sand flowing from the San Mateo and San Juan Creeks due to droughts, upstream development and flood mitigation measures that trap sand.
Global warming effects, including sea level rise and more frequent violent storms, are also impacting coastlines throughout the region.
Oceanside’s erosion was accelerated by the construction of the Camp Pendleton boat basin in 1942 and the Oceanside harbor in the early 1960s. Sand dredged from the harbor is used to briefly replenish the beaches before it quickly washes away to southern beaches. The Oceanside littoral cell is a coastal compartment that cycles sand from sources back onto the coastlines from La Jolla to Dana Point, but the harbors prevent Oceanside from regaining that sand.
Oceanside is currently in the middle of a competition as part of its sand retention project, known as RE:BEACH Oceanside, which will select one of three firms to design a suitable plan addressing its beach sand erosion while also avoiding any negative impacts on the other cities’ sand.
“Oceanside has been a leader through this competition,” Duncan said.
Jayme Timberlake, Oceanside’s coastal zone administrator, will participate in the summit and present a summary of the RE:BEACH effort there.
“This Summit is important to Oceanside, as we hope to continue sharing information about coastal management efforts since management tactics in the coastal zone often can affect other jurisdictions,” Timberlake said via email. “But also, we need to begin implementation planning early on because mobilization costs are so high for some of these efforts and better shared between several jurisdictions if possible.”
Timberlake said the summit’s discussions could signal that participating cities are making efforts to align with proactive approaches to coastal management – and by working together, these approaches could be implemented more effectively.
“This is a different and more holistic approach than has been taken in the past,” Timberlake said.
Duncan said although each city deals with its own set of coastal erosion problems, each mayor’s different perspectives on their respective cities’ issues will help in the long run through the summit.
“It will increase our collective understanding of the issue,” Duncan said.
Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez sees the summit as a move in the right direction.
“I think we all have hope in working together and supporting each other,” Sanchez said. “All seven of the mayors have confirmed, which is great, and shows that everyone very much wants to have this discussion and see where we can move forward.”
Both Duncan and Sanchez suggested that meeting to discuss sand erosion is just the beginning of the C7 Summit, which could gather in the future to discuss other regional issues, including homelessness and housing affordability.
The initial C7 Summit will not be open to the public and is not subject to California’s Brown Act.
