Designed for coastal resilience.
Rooted in Science.
Tested for wave performance.
Monitored overtime.
What is RE:BEACH?
RE:BEACH is an innovative, City-led and community-driven initiative for sand retention and restoration in Oceanside, California.
Selected through an international design competition in 2024, the project emerged from a global search for innovative solutions to address rapidly eroding beaches and serves as a pilot effort to restore, widen, and sustain Oceanside’s beaches for future generations.
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Oceanside’s beaches have suffered decades of chronic erosion, exacerbated by construction of nearby harbors and disruption of natural sand movement. Traditional sand nourishment efforts temporarily widened beaches but sand quickly eroded away. In 2020–2021, the City completed a Phase 1 Sand Feasibility Study to examine long-term solutions, concluding that both consistent nourishment and retention strategies were needed.
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In response to significant coastal erosion and disappearing beaches and public opposition to hard infrastructure like groins, the City of Oceanside took on a new approach to bringing innovative solutions for sand retention to its beaches. From this the RE:BEACH initiative was born. The first phase hosted an international coastal resilience design competition that brought design teams from around the world to identify the best possible community-backed localized solution. Following six months of outreach and co-design, a jury of community members, coastal experts, and local organizations endorsed “Living Speed Bumps” by International Coastal Management (ICM) as the winning design to become the RE:BEACH pilot project. Featuring two artificial headlands onshore and one offshore artificial reef, “Living Speed Bumps” help stabilize back-beach sand and dissipate wave energy, while promoting sand deposition and reducing erosive forces.
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The RE:BEACH pilot project includes two artificial headlands onshore and one offshore artificial reef between Tyson Street Park and Wisconsin Avenue accompanied by a substantial beach nourishment treatment with material sourced from an approved offshore borrow site. The nourishment will facilitate sand restoration and the pilot infrastructure will increase sand retention on Oceanside Beach. Once implemented, RE:BEACH Pilot will:
Retain sand longer on Oceanside beaches (making nourishment more effective and sustainable).
Protect coastal infrastructure, recreation, and the local tourism economy.
Provide a science-driven, community-vetted pilot that could inform future coastal restoration strategies locally and regionally.
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The project also includes an on-going re-nourishment component and adaptive management plan to guide future management of the project.
The Latest
As of September 2026, the engineering modeling and physical wave testing for the RE:BEACH pilot are nearly completed and the permitting processes are underway. As part of that, a draft Environmental Impact Report is anticipated in October.
Additionally, the project team is developing the RE:BEACH Adaptive Management Plan (RAMP) provides a process for identifying concerns about potential effects of the project and , through on-going monitoring, evaluation, and adjustment, builds in proactive measures to mitigate the risk unintended consequences. Baseline monitoring to inform the RAMP is underway.
