The proposed La Jolla Shores Lifeguard Tower with a garage in the middle of the parking lot has serious safety issues, will cost approximately $1,000 per square foot, and does not blend in with its beautiful surroundings. Please come to the CPA meeting on Thursday, April 3, 6 p.m., La Jolla Recreation Center and share your concerns with the trustees. Ask them to request the city to revisit the project and make the changes listed below. E-mail Tim Golba, CPA chair, [email protected]; Council President Scott Peters, [email protected]; and Mayor Jerry Sanders. [email protected].
We are all extremely grateful for the great job our lifeguards do ” and realize the deplorable condition of the facilities they work in every day. We support new lifeguard towers, but feel strongly that they should be safe, cost-effective and blend in with their surroundings.
SAFETY ” The three proposed buildings have flat roofs, an observation deck and a cantilevered tower that stretches over the boardwalk above the beach; all serving as attractive nuisances for the hundreds of kids partying around the fire rings on the beach all summer long and drinking. The design has been referred to as the biggest piece of playground equipment in the City of San Diego. (Kids used to party on the flat roof of the old south Comfort Station.) It’s a serious accident waiting to happen.
A simple remedy is to (1) eliminate the extremely costly cantilevered tower and design a Mission-style bell tower for optimum viewing, incorporating red tile roofing, with a slump stone and stucco exterior, instead of colored block. It should blend with the surrounding architecture along the shoreline from the Marine Room to the first home north of Kellogg Park.
If cost is a factor, I’m sure there are local architects who would be happy to help with the design modifications.
By moving the tower into the parking lot on the east side of the boardwalk, response time is increased and viewing of the beach and ocean by lifeguards on the first floor is greatly hampered by beachgoers walking in front of the windows on a significantly narrowed section of the boardwalk.
Placement of the garage in the middle of the parking lot poses serious safety hazards for pedestrians, unnecessarily increasing costs for construction and removing much-needed parking spaces. The city’s solution is to restripe the parking lot and make the spaces smaller!
The cost-effective and functional solution is to (2) spread the tower buildings apart an additional 10 feet so the vehicles can be parked there at night, giving the lifeguards a larger working space during the daytime. Roll-up garage doors and roofing that is retractable would provide a sense of openness during the daytime and security for their vehicles at night.
The lifeguard tower is being built in a flood zone. (3) Buildings constructed today should be environmentally friendly and incorporate solar power for optimum efficiency.
While the plans have been approved, much has changed over the past six years since the lifeguard tower was designed. Plans for the south Comfort Station, which would have been complemented by the current design, were scrapped because the bid was $880,000 and the city only had $316,000. The alternative plan, donated by F.A.I.A. architect Dale Naegle, was completed in 2005 and is Mission-style, blending in beautifully with the rest of the shoreline, unlike the proposed lifeguard tower that no longer blends in with anything in the park or surrounding area.
Renovation of the existing lifeguard tower makes ultimate sense relative to safety, cost effectiveness and aesthetics. It would also eliminate the need for a Mitigated Negative Declaration, currently required due to new Historical Resources regulations that mitigate for the very real possibility that Kumeyaay artifacts and/or human remains might be unearthed during construction, requiring an archeologist on site ” further increasing costs.
I understand that such a redesign could cause significant delays that are unacceptable to the city.
Therefore, I am requesting that the cost-effective revisions stated above, bringing the exterior of the buildings into compliance with the rest of the shoreline and significantly improving safety, be adopted by the CPA, along with a request for the city to meet with your trustees to implement the proposed changes. They do not impact the interior design in any way.
The lifeguards deserve safe, efficient working conditions. The community deserves a safe, cost-effective design that complements its surroundings. We will have this building in our park for the next 40-50 years. Let’s get it right!
” Carol duPont is a resident of the Shores, La Jolla business owner and past board member of the La Jolla Shores Association.