Fletcher Cove Sand Replenishment Begins

In the Reviving Your Wetlands restoration of San Elijo Lagoon, crews will begin pumping sand from the lagoon onto Fletcher Cove Beach in Solana Beach beginning, April 27 (update: now April 28), for approximately the next four weeks. This continues the process of replenishing parts of our North County shoreline.

the rendering above, Fletcher Cove sand replenishment will be focused on widening the beach area marked in red.

Crews began installing a conveyance pipeline to Fletcher Cove Beach in Solana Beach this week. Beginning today, crews will reinitiate dredging operations that will move sand from the San Elijo Lagoon onto Fletcher Cove Beach.

Operations will be conducted 24/7 and approximately 140,000 cubic yards of sand — equivalent to filling over 42 Olympic-sized swimming pools — will be placed at Fletcher Cove Beach.

Back in Cardiff, for the past eight weeks, crews pumped nearly 300,000-cubic yards of sand onto Cardiff State Beach, working their way south from the lagoon inlet toward Seaside State Beach.

Like beach replenishment at Cardiff State Beach, sands at Fletcher Cove will be placed at about 7,000-cubic yards a day. We’re pacing the replenishment so that these native sands integrate naturally.

In the north portion of Fletcher Cove is the staging area for sand replenishment, noted by the orange project fencing. Portions of the beach will be closed while crews are working in the area to ensure public safety during sand deposit operations.

Nearby residents and visitors will hear noise and see lighting near Fletcher Cove Beach during operations.

Beachgoers may smell a faint wetland scent from the newly dredged sand, which is temporary and will fade quickly. Beachgoers may also see fine sediments in the water, which will settle shortly after project completion. 

San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy monitors the water quality and surf breaks throughout these beach replenishment projects. It’s part of our continuous monitoring of habitats as we guide Reviving Your Wetlands. 

San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, Caltrans, and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) are overseeing the beach sand replenishment project, which is part of an ongoing $102-million effort to restore the San Elijo Lagoon. The lagoon restoration is one element of the North Coast Corridor (NCC) Program. The NCC Program was unanimously approved by the California Coastal Commission in 2014. The restoration project is funded through TransNet, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax administered by SANDAG.