Progress is being made toward a much-anticipated streetscape project for La Jolla’s Girard Avenue, with key boxes being checked in recent months. But there is still more to be done before the project can break ground later this year.
At the Jan. 16 Enhance La Jolla meeting, board member and La Jolla Community Foundation Chairwoman Phyllis Pfeiffer said a project manager has been selected to help usher the project through its next critical steps.
Enhance La Jolla is a nonprofit that manages the Village Maintenance Assessment District and has authority to carry out projects throughout La Jolla, even outside the district.
Phase 1 of the streetscape project would renovate Girard Avenue between Prospect and Wall streets with improved lighting and seating and more street trees and traffic-calming measures. The project would add 63 new benches, 49 new trees, 51 lights and 9,100 square feet of public space.
Phase 2 would renovate Girard between Wall and Silverado streets with the same features.
“We have hired a project manager who has started and is now [serving] as a liaison with the city [of San Diego] … so it is moving forward,” Pfeiffer said.
Working with Enhance La Jolla, the Community Foundation has raised $4.3 million to fund the project — $2.5 million through private donations and $1.8 million from public grants.
Some of the money is coming from state grants, which the Community Foundation has not yet received because it was given to the city to give to the foundation.
Therefore, Pfeiffer said, “we just need to tie down the details [to get the money]. We need to make sure we understand all the parameters and they [the city] understand us.”
Because the project is getting government funding, it must be put out for bid to at least three contractors. The start date for construction will be decided once a contractor has been selected. Construction of Phase 1 is expected to take about five months.
“We should have the permits by May,” Pfeiffer said. “As soon as we know [when construction can start] … we are going to meet with all the retailers in the affected areas.”
The work is to be done in two phases so it won’t interrupt retail business during the busy summer and holiday seasons, Pfeiffer said.
Project organizers say its four main pillars are increasing pedestrian safety and calming traffic with midblock crossings, adding landscaping and street trees, improving lighting and adding benches.
Other Enhance La Jolla news
Bench renewal: A project to renovate wooden benches in La Jolla’s public spaces is completed, Enhance La Jolla President Ed Witt said, and the board is eyeing the metal benches adorned with seahorses as a possible next project.
Last year, work began to refurbish all 70 wooden benches across six streets in the Village Maintenance Assessment District by sanding and refinishing them. The organization used donations and funds from the city to complete the project, which cost about $400-$800 per bench, depending on the amount of work needed.
“We are done with the wood benches for now,” Witt said. “I think they really look good.”
Going forward, Maintenance Assessment District Manager Brian Earley said 17 metal benches could be refurbished at a total cost of about $7,700.
Tree replacement: Another effort underway aims to replace palm trees that need to be removed, with sponsorship from local businesses, Earley said. For example, he said, a palm tree “with no head on it” near the La Jolla Recreation Center needs to be removed, and a local business is willing to donate the money to Enhance La Jolla, which would buy and plant the new tree.
Earley said conversations are continuing to secure the sponsorship and get the tree planted. If the project is successful, it might be repeated elsewhere in The Village.
Next meeting: Enhance La Jolla meets quarterly or as needed. The next meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, April 17, at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 700 Prospect St. Learn more at enhancelajolla.org. ♦
