In an effort to end more than five years of litigation, controversy and fees at La Jolla\u2019s Children\u2019s Pool, San Diego City Council members voted 7-1 Feb. 17 to send legislation to Sacramento that would give the city power to add the term “marine mammal habitat” to the list of uses included in a 1931 California tidelands grant. Seal advocates and pro-beach activists poured into Tuesday\u2019s council meeting, offering their opinions before the council voted to pass a resolution that would end years of battling over use of the Children\u2019s Pool. “The City Attorney\u2019s Office recommended to the council that the council approve the resolution,” said San Diego Deputy City Attorney George Schaefer. “We did our legal research and we have concluded that the legislature has the authority to amend the trust to add the use.” Casa Beach, or the Children\u2019s Pool, was among several areas the state gave to the city for certain uses in a 1931 state grant, including “public park, bathing pool for children, parkway, highway, playground and recreational purposes, and to such other uses as may be incident to, or convenient for the full enjoyment of, such purposes,” the statutes stated, adding the right to fish off the waters. According to Schaefer, council members inserted a clarification into the resolution allowing the council discretion regarding Children\u2019s Pool uses. The council intends to add marine mammal viewing to the list of uses, which would settle ongoing state and federal cases regarding the area and its intended use while keeping the Children\u2019s Pool\u2019s current uses intact, Schaefer said. “We also got opinions from the California Attorney General and the State Lands Commission,” Schaefer said. “Both came to the same conclusion: that the state legislature has the authority to amend the trust, and we did present those letters to the council.” But Paul Kennerson, attorney representing swimmer Valerie O\u2019Sullivan in a 2004 lawsuit against the city, said the state of California agreed to be bound by the previous state judgment. “Where is the city\u2019s honor to undergo five years of litigation with a litigant that has been utterly successful and then pull the rug out from underneath them?” Kennerson said. “If the council thinks the troubles are over \u2014 it is not.” Bryan Pease, the Animal Protection and Rescue League\u2019s (APRL) SealWatch attorney, and others began lobbying state Sen. Christine Kehoe months ago, asking the senate to introduce a new bill amending the 1931 tidelands grant that conveyed Casa Beach from the state to the city. Kehoe said she would back the legislation but wanted a local resolution first. Pease said the solution would be simple, adding three words to the state grant. But council members concluded Tuesday that sending a more complex resolution to Kehoe\u2019s office would be beneficial. “They want the Legislature to give the council discretion,” Schaefer said. District 1 City Councilmember Sherri Lightner did not return calls prior to press time. Lightner told council members she had concerns about the language of the council\u2019s resolution, and she voted alone against sending the resolution to the state. Kehoe must create and adopt a senate bill before Feb. 27, according to Pease. For more information about both sides of the Children\u2019s Pool issue, visit www.childrenspool.org, www.friendsofthechildrenspool.com or www.aprl.org.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In an effort to end more than five years of litigation, controversy and fees at La Jolla\u2019s Children\u2019s Pool, San Diego City Council members voted 7-1 Feb. 17 to send legislation to Sacramento that would give the city power to add the term “marine mammal habitat” to the list of uses included in a 1931 […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Council backs seal presence at Pool","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551,11593],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news","category-no-images"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297562\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}