Demolition gives way to construction at Moonlight Beach

ENCINITAS A $4.8 million project thats giving Moonlight Beach a new restroom and concession stand has moved out of the demolition phase and into the construction period.

Kids visiting the beachs playground will have a front-row seat for all the work, which in the coming weeks will include huge trucks pumping concrete for the walls of the new buildings, city Park and Beach Superintendent John Frenken said Tuesday.

All the poured-in-place concrete walls will have waves in them, Frenken said. Some will have shells in them, some of them will have rocks in them so youll get the impression that years of wave action has built the walls and left shells and deposits.

When contractors start on the roof of the new restroom building later this year, it too will have a wavelike look reminiscent of the Cardiff library building, he added.

Located at the western end of Encinitas Boulevard, Moonlight Beach is a hugely popular recreation spot for tourists and Encinitas residents. The volleyball courts, fire pits and playground equipment are in almost constant use. But parents have bitterly complained about the aging restrooms for years, city officials have said.

In early September, contractors started demolishing those restrooms and a small, nearby concession stand. The buildings will be replaced by one 3,600-square-foot structure with restrooms at one end and food sales at the other. Plans call for this new building to be tucked into the hillside east of the old restroom building area, so more space on the sand is available for visitors.

Partially funded by $1.9 million in state grant money, the construction project also includes a 950-square-foot garage building that will house lifeguard trucks and rescue equipment.

After the demolition of the old beach structures and before the start of construction on the new ones, contractors replaced the water, sewer and electric lines running to the property, Frenken said.

We went all the way back from Fifth Street and put new ones in because that stuff was old, he said, mentioning that the old clay sewer pipes were placed with easier-to-maintain plastic ones.

The work also included adding two big storm drains on C Street to improve drainage conditions, he said.

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Demolition gives way to construction at Moonlight Beach