Enhancement Studies

Agua Hedionda Creek Restoration Project

The Agua Hedionda Creek Restoration Project is delayed, and the final construction timeline is unknown, the city has been actively implementing programmatic strategies within the Agua Hedionda HA that have similar water quality benefits as creek restoration. Attachment 2 of the FY22 CWMA WQIP Annual Report summarizes the city’s overall efforts.

Roman Creek Wetland Restoration Project

Roman Creek is tributary to Agua Hedionda Creek and flows through Buena Vista Park (Figure 13). The Roman Creek Wetland Restoration Project is identified in the Carlsbad WMA WQIP as a strategy for wetland creation and enhancement to address hydromodification impacts and as a mitigation strategy to compensate for aquatic resource impactsfrom other city projects. Previous Carlsbad WMA annual reports detail field studies, design efforts, and environmental permitting activities associated with the Roman Creek project. To date, the city has expended $1,136,000 on the project.

In October 2022, one bid of $6,000,000 was submitted, which, while deemed acceptable, surpassed the allocated budget by over $2,300,000. Consequently, the city paused the project to consider value engineering options and evaluate funding during its Spring 2022 Capital Improvement Budget process.

Program for Stream, Channel, and/or Existing Habitat Rehabilitation in Areas of Existing Development

Each RA developed rehabilitation programs as part of their jurisdictional programs to identify areas of streams, channels, and/or habitats that are candidates for rehabilitation and look for opportunities to implement projects. While all RAs implemented this program during FY23, the City of Carlsbad implemented a vegetation maintenance project in the Agua Hedionda HA to mitigate flooding impacts and protect riparian habitat.

Agua Hedionda Creek Vegetation Maintenance Project

Within the City of Carlsbad, long-term maintenance of Agua Hedionda Creek between the Cannon Road and El Camino Real bridges is necessary to reduce flooding upstream. To improve the creek's flood capacity, limited vegetation is permitted within this portion of the creek