Are you upset about all the riprap boulders on San Clemente’s beaches? We are! Cyprus Shores beach is destroyed, it’s no longer passable to Trestles, Cottons is degraded and dangerous and erosion is only getting worse with the effects from the riprap revetment!
Now, the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is planning to extend the riprap by ⅔ of a mile through San Clemente State Beach - taking out the dunes and sandy beach!
We need to send a strong message to the California Coastal Commission and OCTA that we will not tolerate this destruction of our beautiful coast!
Riprap revetments, composed of boulders, are a form of seawall and we know through extensive monitoring and studies that seawalls make erosion worse! They cause energy to refract faster than normal and prevent sand from settling on the beach, instead washing it back into the ocean.
Channel your frustration into action! Join us during general public comment at the California Coastal Commission meeting on Thursday, August 8 at 9 am. Anyone can comment in person at the meeting in Calabasas or over Zoom.
To participate over Zoom, all you have to do is submit a speaker slip here. This is for general public comment on non-agenda items. Each speaker will have exactly two minutes.
We encourage everyone to speak your heart but here are a few ideas / suggested talking points:
- OCTA placed 26,000 tons of riprap in front of Cyprus Shores HOA in South San Clemente in 2021 and 2022, claiming “an emergency”. This unpermitted seawall remains there to this day, blocking the beach and making erosion worse.
- [Tell your story: ex., “I used to walk this beach every day before the seawall went in but now it is extremely dangerous and no longer passable'', or “This seawall went in and now the surf break off Cotton’s Point is dangerous and not working as well”, or “ My family likes to camp at San Clemente State Beach and we used to be able to walk all the way to Trestes and San Onofre State Beach and now we no longer can”.]
- Now, OCTA plans to extend this seawall by ⅔ mile across San Clemente State Beach and destroy the dunes and sandy beach.
- Please do NOT let OCTA place even ONE more boulder on our beaches!
- The real emergency is that our beach is disappearing and being destroyed by OCTA’s failure to act in a way that protects public resources.
- All the armoring in the world will not save the railroad over the long term - so please don’t let this temporary “fix” permanently destroy our beaches.
If you cannot make the meeting, you can submit written comments to: SouthCoast@coastal.ca.gov.