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Buena Vista Lagoon Project Gets $1 Million From State

State Fish and Wildlife Department officials have awarded a $1 million grant to the San Diego Association of Governments for planning the restoration of the Buena Vista Lagoon at the Oceanside-Carlsbad border.

The $1 million announced last month comes on top of $3 million the state Wildlife Conservation Board awarded in December to SANDAG, which oversees planning and contracting for the proposed cleanup of the stagnant 220-acre lagoon.

Decades in the Making, Buena Vista Lagoon Restoration Plan Finally Approved

A long-sought compromise has been approved that will open the stagnant, reed-filled Buena Vista Lagoon to the sea and restore its native coastal marine habitat, but years of work remain before the transformation begins. Disagreements over whether the lagoon at the border of Carlsbad and Oceanside should remain freshwater or be restored to saltwater have stalled the project for decades.

Carlsbad Supports Modified Plan to Restore Buena Vista Lagoon

A hard-fought compromise on the saltwater restoration of the Buena Vista Lagoon won the enthusiastic support of the Carlsbad City Council last week.

The agreement between property owners, nonprofits and multiple governmental agencies outlines a plan to remove the weir, or low wooden dam at the mouth of the lagoon, and excavate the entire 220-acre preserve to restore tidal flushing.

Silt has been steadily filling the lagoon since the weir was built in the 1970s, and in the last 30 years about 62 acres of the formerly open water has been filled by cattails and reeds. Without intervention, the lagoon would continue to fill with sediment and vegetation until it eventually disappears.

Agreement Close On Buena Vista Lagoon Restoration

A proposal to keep deeper, more open water at the western end of the Buena Vista Lagoon is part of modifications that could make a proposed restoration at last palatable to all the property owners involved.

“It would still remove the weir, but would also protect the St. Malo open areas, as well as create some critical areas of deeper water,” said Keith Greer, regional principal planner for the San Diego Association of Governments, in a presentation Tuesday to the Carlsbad City Council.

 

Parties Reach Consensus on Saltwater Option for Buena Vista Lagoon

Property owners along the Buena Vista Lagoon, which has become more like a shallow, stagnant lake, have agreed after years of negotiations to remove the weir that keeps out the ocean.