DATE: December 17, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM: City Manager's Office
TITLE: Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution continuing a Local Emergency Declaration due to sedimentation and shoaling in the navigation channel of the Oceanside Harbor.
RECOMMENDATION
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Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution continuing the Local Emergency Declaration due to sedimentation and shoaling in the navigation channel of the Oceanside Harbor.
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BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
The Oceanside Harbor entrance is subject to annual maintenance dredging conducted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and supported by the United States Navy. This federally funded maintenance, authorized under Section 301 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1965, maintains safe navigational depths, reduces storm-related impacts, and provides critical coastal protection through the placement of dredged sand on Oceanside beaches. The Harbor entrance, originally constructed by the federal government as an emergency wartime measure in 1942, continues to support vital regional and national interests, including operations at Camp Pendleton Harbor, recreational and commercial boating, and public safety access.
Under typical conditions, the annual dredging cycle occurs in the spring, with the 2025 operation completed on May 10, 2025. In most years, natural coastal processes gradually redistribute sand, with conditions remaining manageable until the following spring dredge. Since completion of the 2025 dredging, however, the Harbor entrance has experienced uncommon and excessive sedimentation and shoaling. Weather patterns, tidal conditions, and littoral transport have accelerated sand accumulation far beyond typical seasonal volumes. This rapid shoaling has significantly reduced channel depths, creating immediate hazards to vessels and increasing the potential for storm-related damage to both federal and City infrastructure withi...
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