OC Parks Makes Quick Work of Capo Beach Cleanup

Capo Beach just can’t seem to catch a break. Things were looking hopeful as a long awaited project to shore up and protect the coastal trail between Capistrano Beach Park and Doheny State Beach got underway this month. Once the trail was restored, phase two was to include infilling several huge holes in the park coastline. The now gaping “bites” have been widening daily since last October when residents joined OC Parks at the California Coastal Commission to beg for a chance to shore things up and install temporary protections while stakeholders work on longer term solutions. Why did it take so long? Red tape and bureaucracy seem to be as damaging as nature itself – each day the ocean has its unrestricted way with the haphazardly protected shoreline (some sections of the tiny beach are protected by rip rap boulders, some by sand cubes, and too many by nothing at all), is a day when more beach is lost. Residents were looking forward to getting a whole beach back, albeit a slimmer one, but they’re getting used to that. And then, as usual, conditions changed.

Tuesday’s high tide was almost 7 feet, which, combined with 4 to 7 foot swells slammed what was left of the trail and wreaked havoc up and down the south facing coast. Wednesday morning revealed a parking lot filled with sand and debris, k-rails pushed out of place, fencing ripped, and nail-filled timber from patios further south washed up on shore. OC Parks closed the parking lot, allowing crews to clean up Wednesday morning only to allow trolley access, leaving the major clean up work to Thursday, when conditions were expected to improve. They did a heroic job, removing yards of sand and cobble, repositioning k-rails and finally unearthing the parking lot (minus several dozen parking stalls lost in the last couple of years). Friday will bring more work--smoothing out piles of rock and sand, realigning concrete tables, removing debris and making the beach safe for public use. OC Parks expects to open the parking lot and beach Saturday – quite an accomplishment considering conditions Thursday morning. Work will continue on trail and beach protections (and now, some additional trail repairs) next week.

Columns of giant sand cubes line what’s left of the south parking lot at Doheny, staged for restoration work that sadly didn’t happen in time to prevent the devastation that occurred with this week’s high tides and 4 to 7-foot storm surge. A trail that was already in jeopardy is now undermined and crumbling in places, with chunks of pavement torn away. While speedier bureaucracy would have certainly helped, many despair of what Capo Beach resident, Debbie Hull termed “inevitable”. “We can slow things down, enjoy what we can for as long as possible, but we all know this will eventually be lost.” Debbie and countless others enjoy this beach every day. Instead of focusing on the undeniable devastation, they check out remnants of two old sea walls, chunks of tile from the 1920s era Capistrano Beach Club, and this week, an interesting layer of shells apparently dumped as fill along the coastline at some earlier time.

Beauty still exists along this damaged shoreline, and as long as the State and County agencies protect access, people will continue to seek respite and recreation – even at beleaguered Capo Beach.