New Solana Beach entry sign is approved by council

After a month of overwhelmingly positive public review, the Solana Beach Eden Gardens pump station’s entry sign was unanimously approved by the City Council at its May 26 meeting. The design, by artist Dennis Higgins, will emphasize the newly constructed pump station’s location as an entryway to the city of Solana Beach.

It will feature the words “SOLANA BEACH” in capital letters over a scene of five fish swimming through kelp.

The sign will cost just less than $20,000 and will be paid for with money from the city’s reserve public art fund, which is made up of donations, a fraction of a percentage of transient occupancy tax revenue and required contributions from commercial developers.

The project received 46 comments during the public review period, 42 of which were positive. Higgins said he and the builders he has contracted with would begin constructing the sign as soon as he receives his first payment from the city of $6,650. He said no changes to the sign’s design were made due to the public review period, and estimated that it would be installed at the pump station by the end of August.