Transit officials said this week they plan to add more sand and rock along the beach at San Clemente, where landslides have suspended passenger train service to San Diego for months at a time in recent years. The Orange County Transportation Authority submitted an emergency coastal development permi t on Monday to the California Coastal Commission to expedite work on four projects, including repairs at Mariposa Point, where a slow-moving slide triggered by seasonal rains halted passenger service for more than three months in early 2024. “There have been series of new landslides near Mariposa Point over the past year, (and) though these did not impact rail service, the debris from these slides is heading toward the track,” said Joel Zlotnik, strategic communications manager for OCTA, in an email Tuesday. “These landslides clearly indicate there continue to be active hillside movements and unstable slopes above the rail line in multiple locations,” Zlotnik said. “Additional hillside movement has occurred as recently as February.” Debris and mud are nearing the top of the 12-foot-high temporary catchment wall constructed a year ago, agency officials said. In addition to replenishing the beach sand and reinforcing the revetment, OCTA plans to build a permanent catchment wall and restore the section of a popular coastal pedestrian trail destroyed by the landslide. The agency’s board of directors at its April 14 meeting is expected to authorize the chief executive officer to enter agreements with contractors to do the work. Suzie Whitelaw, president of the San Clemente group Save Our Beaches, said more sand is always good. But she was skeptical about the use of rock and the whether the transit agency can get the permits required to complete the work in less than two years. Rock revetments, seawalls and other hard structures built on the beach limit public access and can contribute to coastal erosion. Instead, environmentalists and groups such as Save Our Beaches prefer to use only sand. “We support any effort by OCTA to place sand instead of rock on our beaches,” Whitelaw said. “However, I am afraid that this is more of a public relations signal than a true project. This is not actually a solicitation. There is no bid package.” California Coastal Commission Executive Director Kate Huckelbridge, in a Feb. 25 letter to the OCTA, said the commission will work with the Orange County agency but questioned the need for an emergency permit. A regular coastal development permit, which could extend the process, would allow a better examination of all options including the use of less rock revetment, she said. “Our agency wants to see sand on these beaches as soon as possible,” Huckelbridge said. “We understand the importance of this train corridor for the region and share a deep sense of urgency for keeping the corridor functional. “We also understand the value of the region’s beaches to residents and visitors alike as well as the importance of maintaining public access amid the rapid loss of beach in front of portions of track,” she said. “We believe sand nourishment may be an effective strategy, either independently or in combination with other protective measures, to both protect the rail corridor and maintain public beach access, at least in the short- and mid-term period.” OCTA estimates that 5,100 cubic yards of riprap and 240,000 cubic yards of sand will be needed to protect Mariposa Point in addition to the work done last year. At the southern end of the project, near San Clemente State Beach, 1,400 cubic yards of riprap repair, 22,000 cubic yards of engineered revetment, seawall or functionally equivalent structure, and 300,000 cubic yards of sand are needed to protect the track. OCTA received more than $300 million in state and federal funding last year for the work. The various elements of the shoreline stabilization projects will proceed “on different timelines based on their complexity and availability of contractors and material,” the agency’s announcement states. Specific or approximate start and finish dates were not announced, although it stressed the need for swift work. “Emergency action is necessary to prevent additional disruption of vital rail service,” OCTA officials said. “In addition, continued erosion requires quick action to repair and replace existing riprap, and deliver enough sand to help protect the tracks.” Passenger rail service between San Clemente and San Diego has been unavailable for a total of more than once year since a hillside slipped beneath the tracks in the Cypress Shore community just north of San Onofre State Beach in 2021. Freight trains continued during most of the closures, usually traveling slowly at night when no repair work was underway. ...read more read less