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Sand project at Capistrano Beach pulls from quarry to add to beach before busy summer season

May 12, 2026

Capistrano Beach is getting a much-needed shot of sand for summer, an amount that would fill about two football fields, to help build up the eroding shore.

An effort to truck in 13,500 cubic yards of sand to the struggling stretch of coast got underway on Monday, May 11, not just to add towel space, but to protect infrastructure and shoreline habitats.

The sand is being hauled from the Lapeyre Quarry off of Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano to Dana Point, a public-private project with a $440,000 price tag. About 30 trucks a day, each with about 25 tons of sand per truck, will work through mid-June to dump and spread the sand.

“We are committed to making sure we have annual sand replenishment, so we can continue to build back the beaches,” Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley said while on the sand Monday as the project kicked off.

An estimated 360,000 cubic yards of sand has been delivered to South County beaches in recent years, with plans for an additional more than 540,000 cubic yards in the works, Foley noted — an amount equivalent to 165 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The first of 13,500 cubic yards of sand is delivered to the beach north of Capistrano Beach Park in Dana Point, CA, on Monday, May 11, 2026. Over the next month, new sand will be spread from the parking lot to 550 feet to the north. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Capistrano Beach, or Capo as most call it, was once so wide it had volleyball courts and was the go-to spot for gathering around fire rings. That was in large part because of the sand placed there in the 1960s during the build-out of the nearby harbor.

Storms in 2018 and 2020 battered the small stretch of beach, collapsing a popular basketball court and wooden walkway and damaging a restroom building beyond repair.

Some people believe the area’s challenges offer a glimpse into the future when sea levels rise is expected to push the ocean toward homes, roadways and the infrastructure that lines the coast. How the county addresses the erosion now could serve as a blueprint for other coastal towns facing similar troubles.

Already, in 2023, 45,000 cubic yards of sand were replenished. The following year, 20,000 cubic yards were placed along a 550-foot stretch at the northern reach of Capo Beach.

For those projects, sand was scooped out of the Santa Ana River and trucked to Capistrano Beach.

“My hope is that we take sand from our nature-based areas, from the rivers and creeks, and we use that sand that is flowing from the mountains to the ocean, as nature intended,” Foley said.

The project didn’t happen last year, and it shows, with cobblestone covering the beach and the sand cut away up to a pedestrian bike path.

This year, there wasn’t enough of a surplus in the Santa Ana River, so the county used the quarry in San Juan Capistrano instead, after the company was selected following a bid process.

“It’s sticky, clean, it’s really nice sand,” Foley said.

Another area the county has been exploring is the Prado Dam, which has extra sand it is trying to get rid of, but hauling it away would be no easy task.

A roundtable with UC Irvine students researching the issue recently yielded some ideas, including one Foley said she would like to explore that would take the sand by rail to Long Beach, then load it onto a barge to bring it down to South Orange County. It should be less expensive than dredging the sand offshore of Surfside Beach, which has been a common source, she said.

“All options are on the table at this point, we’re just trying to find out what’s the least expensive way to get sand on the beaches,” she said.

A South Orange County Beach Coalition was created earlier this year, tasked with exploring sand management solutions.

“My expectation is that we have an annual replenishment. Only when we have an annual replenishment will we be able to set the width of the beach,” Foley said.

Following previous sand replenishment projects, UCI analysis indicates a sand bar has formed offshore, helping waves to break before reaching the shoreline, which helps retain the beach because waves are not breaking directly on the sand and pulling the sand offshore.

The replenishment projects are the early stages of a Nature-Based Shoreline Adaptation Project that will include creating a 1,150-foot system of vegetated sand dunes over a cobble berm between Doheny State Beach to the north and Capo Beach.

“It’s been known to help in other areas, in Oxnard and Ventura, and we hope that we can be another good example of how nature-based solutions, combined with sand replenishment, help to replenish our beaches,” Foley said.

The county held several community meetings and gained necessary approvals in 2022 for the $16 million project.

About $10 million in federal funding is earmarked for the project, and the county has been awaiting word on a grant request from the state’s Prop. 4, a climate bond approved by voters in 2024, which earmarks funds for “living shorelines.”

The county’s beach coalition is working now to create a sand Index, similar to the county’s pavement management Index used to determine which areas need to fix roads or fill potholes, Foley said.

Beaches will be measured and information gathered on previous nourishment projects so that regular management can happen. The coalition’s next meeting is in August.

Construction activities for the current sand replenishment project may temporarily limit public access to specific beach areas. Flaggers will direct pedestrians and cyclists around the work area, officials said. Work will not happen on weekends or holidays.

Sand project at Capistrano Beach pulls from quarry to add to beach before busy summer season Orange County Register

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Sand project at Capistrano Beach pulls from quarry to add to beach before busy summer season

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