The following is a copy of a letter to Patrick Ahern and the Scripps Park Project Committee.
The efforts of the Scripps Park Project Committee to involve a wide range of local citizens at the Nov. 2005 Scripps Park Project Workshop was quite impressive and much appreciated. However, the current proposal to move the Bridge Club reflects only half the proposals that were presented by the various citizen design groups that participated in that half-day program that you and the LJ Hotel hosted.
The proposal to move the Bridge Club is a primary flaw in the current Scripps Park Project design that is being presented tonight (June 14). Not only was this proposal not a consensus of the design groups that presented proposals during the Nov. 2005 workshop it is also not environmentally or economically feasible.
As past president of the La Jolla Parks & Recreation Inc., I worked with the LJ Bridge Club and other private donors in 1998-1999 to develop a landscape plan and construction budget for removal of the concrete shuffleboard courts and landscaping of the grounds behind the Bridge Club. As part of our Coastal Commission approval, we had to agree not to dig deeper than six inches into the native soil to install our irrigation system. We also had to hire an Indian observer to inspect any potential artifacts and document our compliance with the Coastal Commission’s digging specifications. It is impossible to bring in sewer and water lines and lay a proper concrete foundation without digging more than six inches into the native soil of Scripps Park. It is also very costly to bring such utilities to the proposed relocation site of the LJBC. As we spent over $250,000 to just remove the concrete and install landscaping for the project completed in 1999, I am sure the cost to bring in utilities and build a proper foundation for the LJBC would be well beyond the amount we spent seven years ago. The total cost of site preparation and building relocation would probably be closer to $750,000 than the $250,000 figure that has been offered to the media.
Costs and depth of digging issues aside, the Coastal Commission would be very unlikely to approve relocation of the LJBC related to the potential disturbance of the coastal bluff that would be related to such a massive undertaking so close to the bluff edge.
Once again, I would like to express my concern over the storm drain that dumps all the Coast Boulevard run-off directly into La Jolla Cove. In my opinion, this is the most pressing issue that needs to be addressed at Scripps Park. I have heard cost estimates of $50,000 to $75,000 just to bring a sewer line across Coast Boulevard and tie into the storm water line that dumps out along the stair at the Cove. The money you spent and all the public impute that went into the Scripps Park Project to come up with a plan that will not be supported by several of the primary user groups at Scripps Park could have been much better spent on efforts to address the serious issue of storm water run-off at the Cove.
I suggest you reconsider the focus of your redesign effort and try to incorporate the Bridge Club more into the planning process. The Bridge Club is not the problem with the Park. The Bridge Club could be part of the solution if you were more sensitive to their needs and the value the facility brings to the community. The LJBC members donated over $36,000 to the landscaping project in 1999 and they pay for the ongoing care and replanting of the seasonal flowers. If the LJBC is respectfully incorporated into the Scripps Park Planning process, you may well realize a significant source of private contributions from the over 120 active members.
As noted in my letter of Nov. 21, 2005, I would like to suggest that the Bridge Club members should be included as an integral part of the Workshop and Scripps Park Project. Additional parking has long been a concern of the Bridge Club members. If the redesign of the Scripps Park could incorporate the 30-40 additional parking spaces that an extended one-way direction of Coast Boulevard could afford, you may find that the Bridge Club could become advocates as well as a potential source of significant funding for further park improvements.
Once again, I would like to thank you and your fellow committee members for inviting the public to your workshop and providing such an open and creative forum for public input to a potential redesign of the Ellen Browning Scripps Park.

Former La Jolla Parks & Recreation Inc. President Kurt Hoffman is a La Jolla businessman, Boomers bodysurfer and Cove swimmer (Gatorman).