SOLANA BEACH — When news spread that Solana Beach was one of the last cities that allowed drinking on its beaches, law enforcement and city officials expected an increase in alcohol-related problems. To their surprise, not much changed. At its June 11 meeting, City Council voted to keep it that way by unanimously adopting an ordinance prohibiting alcohol on city beaches for one year.

Solana Beach Marine Safety Capt. Craig Miller said his department had been monitoring beach behavior since similar bans were enacted at all San Diego city beaches in January and Torrey Pines State Beach in April. “They really didn’t have much of an effect up here in Solana Beach,” Miller said, until Del Mar adopted an ordinance last month banning alcohol on its beaches through Labor Day weekend.

“Since then we have seen somewhat of an increase in alcohol consumption on our beaches,” Miller said. “Now we’re seeing a different demographic with some younger folks drinking 12-packs of beer. We have not had a problem yet. I haven’t seen a whole lot of it, but I’ve seen enough. Our demographic is definitely changing.”

Judi Strang, executive director of San Dieguito Alliance for Drug Free Youth and the only person to address council, said her organization supported the year-round ban because problems aren’t limited to the summer months.

“We do have spring issues,” Strang said, adding that unseasonably warm weather also draws people to the beach. During the weekends of May 10 and May 17, when summer-like temperatures attracted many to the coast, the number of alcohol-related citations issued nearly tripled in Del Mar. That prompted the city, which at that time was one of the few places that allowed drinking on its beaches, to adopt the summer ban.

During those two weekends, Strang said her organization received phone calls from people who had been “harassed at the beach in ways that they had never experienced before.”

“It was their personal experience that it wasn’t from people in our area. They were people who came for the express purpose of drinking at the beach,” Strang said. “You are now recognized as the ‘wet’ beach. You’re on Web sites,” she told council members. “You’re part of the communication in the young adult population that you’re the place where the party is.”

Law enforcement officials supported that notion.

“The word is out that this is the last city in the county that you can go to the beach and drink,” Dismas Abelman, deputy fire chief, said. “The lifeguard captain has received phone calls from members of the public asking, ‘Can we come down there and drink?’”

“Unfortunately we’re being thrust into a situation that we have to be proactive,” Mayor Joe Kellejian said. “It’s our charge to protect the health, safety and welfare of not only the citizens that live here in Solana Beach, but those who visit from elsewhere.

“We only have one main street in town and I’d hate to see … that road cluttered with people who have been drinking excessively,” Kellejian said.

“I share the sentiments that this is really unfortunate because the responsible people are being punished for those that are irresponsible,” Councilman Tom Campbell said. “But I think we have to do it.”