SOLANA BEACH — On July 1, 1986, five people who would become the first City Council members in Solana Beach were sworn in to office at the bluff overlooking Fletcher Cove, marking the beginning of the coastal community’s official cityhood.
Forty years later, the city has gone through innumerable changes and extensive growth, but the same sense of local pride still runs deep.
On Wednesday, the City Council recognized the ruby anniversary with a proclamation honoring the city’s 40 years of history and honoring former city council members who helped to shape the city into what it is today.
“This is a very special evening. Today marks a significant milestone in the history of our city,” said Mayor Lesa Heebner. “There are 24 of us who have been serving this community over these 40 years.”
The city also kicked off a series of celebrations that will continue throughout the 40th year, starting on Thursday with a special edition of Concerts at the Cove, held down at Fletcher Cove Beach.
Hundreds of locals set up on the beach for the one-night-only seaside concert, dancing to 80s hits performed by BetaMaxx and Atomic Groove and enjoying hot dogs and cupcakes provided by the Solana Beach Parks and Recreation Department.
‘40 years down and forever to go’
A major driver of the city’s independence was gaining control from San Diego County, which had supported massive commercial development in the area of the San Elijo Lagoon along Coast Highway 101.
After three failed campaigns, the city incorporation proposal, known as Proposition N, went on the ballot in 1986 and was approved by nearly 65% of voters.
Former Mayor Joe Kellejian, who first joined the City Council in 1996, recalled serving on the Solana Beach town council prior to incorporation. He was also part of an eight-person committee known as CITI, or Citizens Intending To Incorporate, which helped to place Proposition N before voters. 
“We collected enough signatures to put the Solana Beach cityhood issue on the ballot, and thank goodness, we won,” Kellejian said.
This led to the creation of the city’s first elected City Council, comprising the first mayor, Margaret Schlesinger, and council members Jack Moore, Richard Hendlin, Marion Dodson and Celine Olson.
The council was supposed to be sworn in on the evening of July 1, but pivoted to a sunrise ceremony after learning the county was seeking to rush through a large number of building permits in the area.
“To prevent the county from having one more day of being able to make land use decisions, we changed things at the end, and the first act we did was to put a 45-day moratorium on any building permits that were pending in front of the county,” recalled Hendlin.
Also crucial to the growth of the young city was the first group of city staff, including the first city manager, engineers, planning directors, lifeguards, and more, Hendlin said.
“All these people helped create the structure of a whole new city, and it was really an exhilarating experience,” Hendlin said. “I am very grateful to all of you for continuing that blueprint that we started then, and I hope we are able to continue it 40 years down and forever to go.”
Current and former leaders also recalled other key milestones in the city’s history, including the arrival of the Santa Fe train station in 1995 and “the big dig” — the massive undergrounding of the North County Transit District train tracks beneath Lomas Santa Fe Drive — in 1996.
Another major accomplishment benefiting residents was finding a permanent home for the Solana Beach Library at Earl Warren Middle School in 2001, where it continues to be operated under a joint-use agreement.
A focus on environmentalism and maintaining the area’s natural beauty has been a foundational part of Solana Beach’s recent history. 
Various residents and organizations fought off threats of proposed hotel developments along the city’s northern border with Cardiff, near the San Elijo Lagoon, over the years. In 2011, the land was sold to the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy (now Nature Collective), thereby permanently protecting it from development, and it was opened as the Harbaugh Seaside Trails in 2020.
Solana Beach was also the first city in California to ban smoking on public beaches in 2003, and the first city in San Diego County to ban single-use plastic bags in 2012.
The city was also a founding member of the community choice energy aggregate Clean Energy Alliance, which now provides clean energy to residents and businesses in multiple North County cities.
Outside of its civic advancements, Solana Beach has also been recognized as a cultural hub for music and art.
For decades, the city has hosted Southern California’s largest free music festival, Fiesta del Sol, and has drawn countless iconic artists to play at the Belly Up Tavern in the Cedros Design District since the 1970s.
In another piece of music history, the current City Hall building was also home to a disco called Club Diego’s, which faced pushback from neighbors and other residents.
Pre-incorporation
While Solana Beach officially became a city four decades ago, much of its history dates back well over 100 years.
The area that now makes up Solana Beach was previously known as Lockwood Mesa, largely agricultural ranches. A key figure in the city’s early expansion was Col. Ed Fletcher, who spearheaded the development of the town on 201 acres of land he purchased from farmer George H. Jones in 1922.
Fletcher was instrumental in bringing water to the city and creating crucial beach access by cutting into the bluff and grading down to what is now Fletcher Cove.
Fletcher, alongside his brother-in-law E. C. Batchelder, developed the historic residential area of La Colonia de Eden Gardens, which became home to Mexican laborers working in the citrus groves in Rancho Santa Fe.
Those first families who arrived in the 1920s and laid roots in La Colonia continue to be honored today.
The name “Solana Beach” is believed to have been chosen by Batchelder around that time, and it has stuck ever since.
For over 70 years, a major steward of the city and its history has been the Solana Beach Civic and Historical Society, which was founded in 1953 as the Solana Beach Women’s Civic Club.
The society now operates the Heritage Museum at La Colonia Park. The museum is operated from the oldest house in Solana Beach, known as the Stevens House, built in 1887 as part of Molly Glen Ranch.
More photos from the city’s 40th anniversary celebration at Fletcher Cove:
