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Orange County Coastal Regional Sediment Management Plan
3.4.2 Economic Benefits of Surfside-Sunset Beach Nourishment Project
USACE has been conducting a sand nourishment project at Surfside-Sunset Beach since 1964
and is expected to continue this project in the future with no sunset date. This project was
initiated to mitigate other federal work and has had broad ranging economic benefits to the
region.
As reviewed in Section 2.3.2 of this report, Gadd et. al. (2006) found that the Surfside-Sunset
Beach nourishment project provided substantial increases in beach width over time, not just at
Surfside-Sunset Beach, but also throughout the entire littoral cell. This widespread beach
accretion indicates that the project benefits extend well beyond Surfside-Sunset Beach.
Although beaches provide a number of economic benefits, these can generally be divided into
storm damage protection benefits and recreational benefits.
Surfside-Sunset Beach is highly developed with housing and infrastructure adjacent to the
beach and businesses and the Pacific Coast Highway a few hundred feet inland from the beach.
Moving southeast along the littoral cell, Bolsa Chica State Beach primarily serves as a
recreational area and fronts an ecological reserve with little development. If beach widths were
allowed to become narrow a substantial amount of parking could be threatened and eventually,
Pacific Coast Highway could be threatened. Bluff erosion and subsequent impacts to parking,
beach access, and Pacific Coast Highway are the primary concerns at Huntington Cliffs.
Moving southeast to Huntington City Beach, some infrastructure lies just behind the beach.
West Newport Beach is primarily residential, with many homes abutting the beach. At all of
these locations, during a severe storm it is likely that many of these buildings and infrastructure
could be threatened. Maintaining a wide beach reduces this probability significantly. Looking to
the future, King et. al. (2011) found that nourishment could be a cost effective policy tool to
reduce the erosion and storm damage impacts from future sea level rise at select California
beaches.
The recreational value of Surfside-Sunset Beach by itself is relatively small. By maintaining the
existing beach, the Surfside-Sunset Beach nourishment project maintains this recreational
value. However, the down coast benefits from the Surfside-Sunset Beach nourishment project,
particularly at Huntington City Beach and Huntington State Beach are substantial. King (2001)
found that increasing beach width raises recreational value and visitation substantially. More
recently, Pendleton et. el. (2011a) used data from Los Angeles and Orange County beach
visitors to find that increased beach width does significantly increase both recreational value
and overall visitation at beaches, including the beaches impacted by the Surfside-Sunset Beach
nourishment project. The overall benefits of the project, including existing and future recreation
and storm damage protection benefits along the entire littoral cell, are likely to be substantial.
The Anaheim Bay (Huntington Harbour) study which is currently idle by USACE (2003)
proposes to add a second entrance between the Pacific Ocean and Huntington Harbour and
could have implications for the Surfside-Sunset Beach nourishment project. This multi-purpose
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