Dana Point panel approves 25-year shoreline protection at 35127 Beach Road

The Dana Point Planning Commission on Feb. 9 approved a coastal development permit (CDP24-0015) and a site development permit (SDP25-0027) to replace a temporary shoreline protection device at 35127 Beach Road with a permanent gravity-block protection system on a 25-year permit term.

Senior planner Danny Giameti told commissioners the oceanfront lot (about 7,130 square feet) sits in the Capistrano Bay Community Services District and in the city’s Coastal Overlay and Floodplain Overlay districts. Staff said the beach in front of the house narrowed significantly after about 2013, and that the California Coastal Commission issued an emergency permit in September 2021 for temporary shoreline protection after partial patio failure.

Staff described the proposed system as a gravity block wall with reuse of some existing sand cubes and rock landward of the wall, riprap placed at the toe and sandbags behind the wall to guard against undermining. The design is intended as a 25-year solution: after that period repairs or reconstruction would require a new coastal development permit. Giameti said the gravity blocks are not deep caissons but are meant to rest on the sand and be reconfigurable after the permit term.

Brandy Boca, the city’s coastal geoengineer, explained the technical approach and said the design reaches anticipated scour levels and uses riprap at the toe with sandbags behind the gravity block wall to prevent undermining. Vice Chair Bowen asked whether the design included an anti-scour mat; Boca said it does not, and that the gravity blocks and riprap are intended to provide the necessary protection for the stated design life.

Several commissioners voiced discomfort about seawalls’ broader effects on sand supply and scouring but said the alternatives for an occupied home in this location are limited and that the proposal is consistent with the local coastal plan. One commissioner noted the policy questions about potential takings and the limits of local authority to resolve them.

A motion to approve CDP24-0015 and SDP25-0027 carried after a second; the resolution and conditions of approval govern the project and the 25-year permit term.

What happens next: the permit will be issued consistent with conditions of approval and standard monitoring; repairs or replacement after the 25-year term will require a new coastal permit.