Overview
- San Clemente has lost large stretches of sand and split North Beach as rising seas and stronger storms push the shoreline landward.
- Voters will decide Measure M in November, a citizen-driven 1% sales tax that city officials say would raise about $15 million a year split evenly between beach restoration and wildfire prevention.
- City Manager Andy Hall says the town faces a roughly 3 million cubic yard sand deficit and that trucking that sand would require about 300,000 truck trips.
- Officials have placed rock shoring along the tracks to keep a 7-mile coastal rail segment operating, but transportation leaders warn those temporary protections sweep sand offshore and may speed further erosion.
- With a strong El Niño expected, state emergency permitting and local campaigning are accelerating decisions about costly long-term options such as moving the rail inland or pausing service, and residents face rising repairs, property risk, and disrupted commutes.