Storm Damage Reduction Project

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United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) San Diego County, CA Project

Last Updated: May 16, 2024

PROJECT STATUS

The US Army Corps of Engineers Storm Damage Reduction Project (federally known as the San Diego County, CA Project) is now complete as of May 9, 2024. The Encinitas phase of the project took approximately seven weeks to construct with another two weeks to demobilize the heavy equipment, pipeline, and staging area in and around the construction site. The total fill quantity placed was 346,939 cubic yards of sediment for the approximate mile-and-one-half reach, spanning just north of Swami’s and south of Beacon’s Beach.

For more information, please visit our webpage at https://www.encinitasca.gov/slr.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The San Diego County, CA Project (as the project is now referred to) includes the periodic construction of protective beach berms along two segments of shoreline within San Diego County, California using sand from offshore borrow sites.

Segment 1 is located in Encinitas and extends approximately north of Swami’s to south of Beacons Beach for 7,800 feet. Along this stretch of shoreline, a fifty-foot-wide protective beach berm will be constructed using approximately 340,000 cubic yards of compatible sediment. Renourishment of Segment 1 is scheduled to occur every five years with approximately 220,000 cubic yards of compatible sediment over a Federally approved 50-year period.

Segment 2 is located in Solana Beach, from Fletcher Cove to just north of the City of Del Mar limits for 7,800 feet. Within Segment 2 a 150-foot-wide beach berm will be constructed using approximately 700,000 cubic yards of compatible sediment. Renourishment of Segment 2 is scheduled to occur every 10 years using approximately 290,000 cubic yards of compatible sediment, over a Federally approved 50-year period.

PROJECT BENEFITS

The project will provide important co-benefits to public health and life safety, low-cost recreation, and environmental enhancements to beach habitat. The project includes protection of the public beach, public property and infrastructure, public access to and along the public beach, and improvements to no-cost public recreational uses immediately following project completion. The project will also provide environmental benefits by restoring and enhancing avian, fish and invertebrate species habitat, and will maintain existing coastal structures in place, thereby avoiding the need to construct new public infrastructure and amenities that could impact natural habitat.

Within the Encinitas project area, between Beacons State Beach and Moonlight State Beach, approximately 3,500,000 visitors were recorded in Fiscal Year 2022-2023. These City-operated State beaches will experience immediate benefits from implementation of the project. Public accessways to the beach, public parking lots, public restrooms, concessions and numerous other public amenities are located within the project area and will benefit from long-term beach sand replenishment.

TIMELINE

1993-2000:

A Reconnaissance Study was preprepared in response to a resolution adopted by the United States House Committee of Public Works and Transportation, dated May 13, 1993, and a resolution adopted by the United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, dated April 22, 1999. This study was initiated in September 1999, in response to Public Law 106-60 (H.R. 2605), the Energy and Water Development Act of 2000. This act provided funds to conduct a reconnaissance study of coastal bluff erosion in the Cities of Encinitas and Solana Beach to determine whether there was federal interest in addressing coastal storm damage in the study area. The Encinitas Shoreline, San Diego County, California, 905(b) Reconnaissance Report (USACE 2000) found that there was federal interest to further study this area.

2001-2005:

In July 2001, the Cities of Encinitas and Solana Beach entered into a Federal Cost Share Agreement (FCSA) with the USACE for the purposes of collaborating on the Encinitas-Solana Beach Shoreline Protection Project (Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project). In 1999, the California Public Beach Restoration Act was adopted to assist the local municipalities with federal matching funds. The Department of Boating and Waterways has provided a majority of the funding due to their role in overseeing the State’s shoreline and the significant economic, recreation, coastal access, public safety and environmental benefits that the beaches provide for the State. The Feasibility Study Draft Environmental Initial Statement/Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIS/DEIR) was completed in August of 2005.

2005-2012:

The project was reconfigured based on agency and public input on the DEIS/DEIR. This included a revised concept of a 50-foot-wide beach for Segment 1 (Encinitas) and a 150-foot-wide beach for Segment 2 (Solana Beach).

2012-2013:

The Integrated Feasibility and DEIS/DEIR were completed on December 26, 2012, to February 26, 2013, respectively. The project was approved by Coastal Commission in November of 2013.

2015-2022:

The “Encinitas – Solana Beach Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project”, as this project was formerly known, was approved by Encinitas City Council on October 14, 2015, via Resolution No. 2015-36. This included certification of the Final Environmental Impact Statement/Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIS/FEIR) and the Mitigation, Monitoring, and Reporting Program (MMRP).

2022-2024: The project monitoring plan was developed based on USACE Scope of Work standards to conduct pre-construction sampling and data collection for the project. The monitoring plan included data collection for marine habitat conditions at and at near the beach receiver sites, bathymetric and benthic community conditions within the borrow sites, and video-based assessment of surfing resource conditions.

2024 to present: Staging for construction began at Moonlight State Beach on February 22, 2024. The subline installation will occur between the end of February and the beginning of March 2024. Construction dredging will occur in mid-March 2024, after the Solana Beach segment is completed.

BUDGET

The 50-year total project costs for both cities, including monitoring and mitigation, is estimated to be $398,588,000. The federal government’s share of the project cost projected to be $199,294,000, and the Non-Federal Sponsors’ share of the project costs projected to be $199,294,000.

The cost allocations for the current initial nourishment are as follows:

$43,331,000 for Fiscal Year 2023/2024

Federal (USACE) share: $28,165,000 (65 percent)
Non-federal share (Local Sponsors): $15,166,000 (35 percent)

The Cities of Encinitas and Solana Beach were awarded a grant from California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways in the amount of $11.5 million to be applied to the Non-Federal Sponsor’s share of the cost for the initial nourishment.

This brings the initial Local Sponsor share for FY 2023/2024 to:

Non-federal share (Local Sponsors) $15,166,000

State Grant received - $11,500,000

Total Remaining Cost $ 3,666,000

Of the total remaining cost, Encinitas will pay $1,209,780 (33 percent) and Solana Beach will pay $2,456,220 (67 percent) for the construction of the current initial nourishment cycle. The City of Encinitas will utilize the Transit Occupancy Tax Fund allocated for sand renourishment to pay for our portion of the cost.

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Stonesteps (before and after) facing south towards Moonlight State Beach

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