Plans to move the La Jolla Cove Bridge Club from its historical corner overlooking the ocean sparked outrage, anger and fear and dominated feedback for the draft master plan for Scripps Park.
More than 100 people overfilled the La Jolla Recreation Center June 14 to hear consultant Doug Campbell present the tentative master plan for the Scripps Park Project.
Ideas for the master plan were first formulated from an all-day workshop last November, during which some participants proposed moving the bridge club to open up the views. The consultant included those ideas in his report. The suggestion soured the discussion, as residents were anxious to decry the move and had little patience to analyze the plan’s other elements. The master plan would move the bridge club from its present northwest corner to the corner of Coast Boulevard and Girard Avenue.
“Do you realize that the bridge club is interfering with a very successful plan?” one audience member said.
In a room count, 84 people opposed moving the bridge club, while eight people raised their hands in favor and 10 people abstained.Almost no one voiced positive comments for the relocation.
Bridge players would now face traffic or tree branches for views, Bridge Club President Scott Farr said. Drivers wanting to drop off bridge players would block traffic at the intersection; the average age of a bridge player is 70. The bridge club would lose its cultural and historical landscape.
Campbell attempted to focus the crowd on the entire plan. Scripps Park is an incredibly unique destination that merges land with sea and it needs to be preserved for future generations, he began. A master plan is necessary to halt the erosion of the bluffs, stop storm water from running into the ocean, to replace dying and diseased trees and restore crumbling infrastructure, Campbell said.
Over-irrigation needs to stop, which is furthering the erosion, Campbell said. La Jolla also needs to divert its seven storm water drains into the storm water drain diversion system ” sending it to the wastewater plant instead of into the ocean. The plan would also replace the non-native ice plant over the bluff tops with native plants that over time would decrease the squirrel population and slow erosion.
The city’s Park and Recreation Department largely disagreed with Campbell’s assessment of Scripps Park, however. A master plan should focus on changing or enhancing the physical layout, not on permitting or maintenance practices, said John Hudkins, manager of shoreline parks and beaches.
The city does not over-irrigate the park, Hudkins said. A water conservation manager follows strict guidelines on how much water to dispense. Last year the department conserved 2,444 hydro cubic feet of water, saving taxpayers $20,000.
“The process is very scientific; it’s not a frivolous thing,” Hudkins said.
Furthermore, erosion is fairly stable, according to the Engineering and Capital Projects Department. Infrastructure needs attention, Campbell said. The posts propping up the cove are eroding and the cove stairway is unsafe. Scripps needs a horticulturist to replace dead trees, including some of the 100-year-old, iconic palm trees that line the grass.
The city doesn’t have adequate resources to care for this world-class regional park and a master plan would give the organization leverage to apply for state, federal and private grants, according to Campbell. Again, the Park and Recreation Department challenged those assertions. The city does have adequate resources to care for Scripps, Hudkins said. The city actually has three horticulturists and one arborist that tend the park, and the department deliberately decided not to replace the trees until it was clear what would emerge from the Scripps Park Project. The city also has hired a contractor to repair the stairs.
“My overall sense is that the consultant didn’t get enough detail into some of the statements that were made,” Hudkins said.
The park is very well managed, Hudkins emphasized. One or two crewmembers tend the park every day and only the most experienced work at Scripps. Since 2002, the city has completed three major capital projects, including enhancing the stairway access at the cove, stabilizing one of the bluffs along the cove and adding a family room to the restrooms, according to Hudkins.
The plan would reconfigure large portions of the park ” not just the bridge club. The sidewalk would be pushed farther back to decrease erosion and lower Girard Street would be reconfigured. The bathroom would be relocated to the edge of the park to open views and would include solar-heated water. Parking and the poor state of the bathroom are the main complaints from park-goers, according to 300 interviews conducted by Campbell. The plan proposes running a shuttle to the park during peak times. Floor-level lighting would replace the lampposts and the spotlights beaming onto the park to preserve nighttime views. The high fences would be replaced with low-level seating.
“This is only on the conceptual, theoretical level; we still have a long way to go,” Campbell reiterated throughout the evening.
Moving the bridge club would cost approximately $250,000 and producing a final master plan is estimated at $50,000. A group of volunteers is heading the project, and donations will fund the changes. The project’s steering committee hopes to complete the plan by the end of the year. Next it would begin a lengthy process through community advisory groups, the planning commission, coastal commission and eventually city council.
To view the master plan, visit www.scrippspark.com or call (858) 459-7660. The steering committee next meets at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, July 17 at the La Jolla Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave.