La Jolla Parks and Beaches, Inc. in March debated the specifications for the proposed La Jolla Cove Pavilion project and was updated on Whale View Point’s planned shoreline enhancement.
The group also reviewed a list of possible options, offered by chair Dan Allen, for cleaning Children’s Pool beach of accumulated marine mammal waste.
The group also OK’d use of Scripps Park by La Jolla Concerts by the Sea for that group’s annual summer concert series. However, Concerts spokeswoman Shirleymae Davis cautioned that their group needs ample storage space, which is currently being reconfigured as part of the Pavilion project to build new and improved shower and restroom facilities at the Cove.
“We’ve put on band concerts on summer Sunday afternoons,” said Davis, noting that this will be the group’s 32nd season.
Davis added it’s nice to be associated with an event whose only purpose is to “make people happy. That’s all it is. That’s what we do.”
Regarding Whale View Point enhancement, Ann Dynes said plans for improvement now include replanting up to 100 native plants in 5- and 15-gallon receptacles. Dynes also presented a proposed logo of two whales crossing each other, noting it would be “really cool” to have a symbol exemplifying and promoting the improvement project.
Dynes said community park planners have also been told by the city that the Pavilion project “needs to be smaller.”
“So we’ve worked with Safdie Rabines (architects) to give us a new project with fewer restrooms,” Dynes said.
A major concern expressed about the Pavilion project is that it needs be large enough to serve the needs of all user groups including swimmers and divers but small enough to maximize ocean views currently impeded by the size of existing restroom facilities. The project also needs to be disabled accessible as well as private enough to accommodate people in wheelchairs requiring assistance from caregivers.
Parks and Beaches board member Bill Robbins suggested the parks group favor extending construction work beyond the Memorial Day start of the summer moratorium should that become necessary to finish construction on lifeguard towers in the Cove and at Children’s Pool. The group backed his proposal without debate.
Allen passed out a list he devised of possible options in cleaning Children’s Pool beach, which has been ordered by the Coastal Commission to be completed when the seasonal rope barrier at Children’s Pool comes back for renewal in a couple years. The group voted to put it on the agenda for the group’s next meeting on Monday, April 27 at 4 p.m. at La Jolla Rec Center, 615 Prospect St.