Two project proposals presented Wednesday, Feb. 14, to the La Jolla Shores Association could put a strain on parking and increase traffic, according to a group of residents who live in the Upper Mesa neighborhood off Torrey Pines Road.
The projects ” a parking lot expansion at Allen Field and a 45,000-square-foot research facility on 1.9 acres of land ” are both located along Torrey Pines Road, a heavily used multi-lane avenue that serves as a connector between La Jolla village and University City.
“People who live here know that parking around UCSD is a hot commodity,” Ure Kretowicz, a member of La Jolla Youth Inc., said during his presentation for the parking lot expansion.
The expansion would provide an additional 24 parking spaces for parents who are dropping off and picking up their children, he said.
But with daily soccer practice and weekend tournaments, the field generates unwanted traffic throughout the surrounding neighborhood and causes commuters to fill up residential street parking, said Zeke Wooley, a La Jolla Shores resident.
Although several people at the meeting thought an increase in parking spaces was a small but favorable improvement, Wooley said it still did not mitigate the entire impact.
The traffic and parking impacts of a proposed research facility would also be significant, residents said after an informational presentation by University of California, San Diego.
UCSD is working on the project in collaboration with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Venter Institute, a private nonprofit organization based in Maryland that is dedicated to the advancement of genomic research.
The property, a 140,000-square-foot lot boxed in between Torrey Pines Road, Expedition Way and La Jolla Village Drive, is owned by UCSD and is one of four parcels that will be leased to the Venter Institute, which will design, build and maintain the building, according to Milt Phegley, UCSD’s director of community planning.
“The Venter Institute is committed to providing an environmentally friendly institution and part of that is with the parking,” Phegley said. “It proposes an alternative transportation program which will be reinforced as part of the ground lease.”
Venter will employ 125 people and provide on-site parking for 112 cars, according to Phegley. Shuttle buses and other carpooling methods will be implemented.
“It’s obvious the way to prevent this is to provide adequate parking on site “” that’s so clear,” a la Jolla resident said.
Earlier in the discussion, she pointed out that because of inadequate parking at Allen Field, parents were letting their children out on the easterly side of Torrey Pines Road and letting them cross the street to the field.
“It’s really a vicious cycle, and the problem is not being solved,” she said. “This is only going to make it worse. With hundreds of children running across Torrey Pines Road ” that’s a recipe for disaster.”
She also suggested that the design for the Venter Institute should allow for a second entrance point on Expedition Way to alleviate some of the traffic on Torrey Pines Road.
The Expedition Way entrance had been considered but was determined by city traffic engineers as too costly and complicated to construct, according to Phegley.
Venter Institute plans to complete the project design by spring and release an environmental impact report by summer of this year. Plans to develop the other three parcels have not yet been made and could be pushed off for years to come, according to Phegley.
Approval from the University of California Regents and the Coastal Permitting Commission are also required for the project and will not likely take place until late 2007 or early 2008. La Jolla Shores residents will have several opportunities to hear future presentations on the project.
For more information, contact UCSD’s Community Planning Department, (858) 534-5782, or visit www.commplan.ucsd.edu.