A regional planning agency is setting the stage for a 2012 sand replenishment project like the one that dumped enough sand on county beaches in 2001 to fill Qualcomm Stadium.

The San Diego Association of Governments is poised to launch an environmental study for the project next month. SANDAG says it is going to evaluate the consequences of pumping sand onto the beach from the ocean floor, and of building a model sand retention structure at Solana Beach.

Shelby Tucker, SANDAG associate regional planner, said the association hired the Long Beach consulting firm of Moffatt & Nichol to tackle the two-year, $500,000 study.

The study was to focus solely on spreading sand on the beach. But on Thursday, SANDAG's shoreline preservation committee decided to ask the consultant to examine the retention feature, too.

That change was made after an expert told panel members they won't be able to hold onto the sand they put on local beaches absent such features.

"You are absolutely stupid not to consider some type of retention," said Reinhard Flick, an oceanographer with the California Department of Boating and Waterways and a researcher for UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

"We will need sand retention devices in order to keep beaches wider, especially in North County," Flick said.

Scientists say North County's beaches are particularly vulnerable to sand loss because they lie outside the shadow of Santa Catalina Island, which protects the shore farther north. As a result, they bear the brunt of brutal winter swells. Those roar into North County directly from the open ocean and wash large amounts of sand out to sea.

And Flick warned the committee that global warming could trigger sea level rise and more intense storms that accelerate local beach erosion.

San Diego County's 2001 project dramatically illustrated the area's vulnerability to pounding surf.

Eight years ago, SANDAG spent $17.5 million to place 2 million cubic yards of sand on a dozen beaches, enough to fill the Mission Valley football stadium where the San Diego Chargers play.

North County was among the biggest recipients of that summertime effort. Of the dozen targeted beaches, 10 were local: Oceanside, north Carlsbad, south Carlsbad, Batiquitos, Leucadia, Moonlight, Cardiff, Fletcher Cove, Del Mar and Torrey Pines.

Then the following Thanksgiving, Torrey Pines got slammed hard by an early winter storm. Within a few years, virtually all the new sand on North County beaches was gone.

SANDAG is looking to largely replicate the 2001 project, at a cost of approximately $25 million.

But this time the agency is hoping to include the Solana Beach feature, as a sort of a pilot project that could spur construction of a system of retention structures all along the coast.

Solana Beach Councilman Joe Kellejian, a committee member, said his city has been looking into the idea of an artificial reef offshore, submerged under 20 feet of water, to deflect waves away from its signature playground: Fletcher Cove.

"That's the center of the city," Kellejian said in a telephone interview Friday. "We want to protect the beach there. It is where the majority of the people access the beach."

He said the idea is pretty simple: "If you can stop that wave action from hitting the beach, it doesn't scour the beach and the sand will stay much, much longer."

At least one local environmental group is willing to consider the idea.

Marco Gonzalez, interim executive director for the Encinitas group Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation, founded just this year, said Friday he welcomes the study.

"I personally have supported that endeavor and actually look forward to additional analysis in this EIR (environmental impact report)," Gonzalez said. "But we will have to reserve judgment until we see the potential designs for the reef and the assessment of potential impacts. It's a big question mark, but we are happy to see that included."

Besides shielding the beach, Kellejian said the reef could protect vulnerable bluffs and magnify waves for surfers. And, because it would be under water, the structure wouldn't ruin anyone's ocean view.

"This is the wave of the future," Kellejian said.

Call staff writer Dave Downey at 760-745-6611, ext. 2623.