Kellogg Park and surrounding parkland in La Jolla Shores may be renovated in coming years as part of the city of San Diego’s Coastal Resilience Master Plan intended to mitigate the effects of expected sea-level rise.
The in-development plan is to include concept-level designs for six locations along San Diego’s coast, including La Jolla Shores and Tourmaline Beach at La Jolla’s southern boundary with Pacific Beach. The city is seeking the public’s input and holding meetings to provide information.
According to the city, “the plan will identify nature-based solutions [projects or approaches that mimic or are designed after natural ecosystems and processes] for locations along San Diego’s coast to improve the resilience of our communities to sea-level rise while also benefiting wildlife, habitat and natural coastal resources.”
Funding for development of the plan is from grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the California State Coastal Conservancy.
The purpose is fourfold: Mitigate risk from sea-level rise, protect and enhance habitats, access to the coast and recreational opportunities, and implement the city’s climate resilience goals.
To help get there, two projects are proposed for La Jolla Shores that include redevelopment of Kellogg Park and the addition of berms.
La Jolla Shores was chosen because it is “currently susceptible to flooding and erosion impacts,” according to the city. “These impacts are anticipated to worsen with sea-level rise” linked to expansion of warming ocean water and increased melting of glaciers and ice sheets.
One of the projects proposed for the area is an elevated earthen dike on the north and south ends of Kellogg Park with a seat wall along the existing parking lot.
“These features are designed to provide flood protection while continuing to recreation opportunities. Recreational space would be maintained behind the earthen dike,” according to the city.
The project includes pedestrian and emergency access points as well as disabled-access ramps. It would aim to have no net loss of parking or recreational space.
The other project, dubbed the La Jolla Shores Reconfigured Park, proposes an elevated earthen dike along the entire length of the site and potential reconfiguration of the parking lot.
“The reconfigured parking lot would further remove that infrastructure from potential hazards and be configured to enhance flow of traffic through the parking lot and improve access to the site (such as with designated drop-off/pickup areas),” according to the city.
To gather residents’ on the projects and other uses for La Jolla Shores the city might want to consider, a survey has been issued that asks about the activities there, its most important features, how it is accessed, what else might be needed, etc.
thus far
At a pop-up workshop in La Jolla Shores on May 11, city representatives were on hand to collect input and answer questions.
Some who attended said they were unimpressed with the level of community outreach.
La Jolla Parks & Beaches board President Bob Evans said the workshop was “hard to find” and didn’t meet the goals of -gathering.
He suggested a meeting with community leaders so “the city can get some real from the people that live in this community. … [The workshop] was informative, but it needs to be shared on a grander level and generate more .”
LJP&B board member Diane Kane said she felt certain concerns were not addressed or could not be answered at the pop-up.
“They are looking more at if the sea level comes up, but I didn’t see any discussion about what happens to the water coming down into the ocean, because both of those water forces meet at the shoreline,” Kane said. “Who knows if various departments are talking to each other.”
Former La Jolla Shores Association president Janie Emerson said “it was one table with no signage, so if people were looking for it, they wouldn’t know where to find it.”
“The people are well-intentioned, but I told them that for something like this, they need to come to the community first,” Emerson said. “We’re all ionate about the area and know what will work and what won’t.”
Moreover, she said, “what they have planned for The Shores is ludicrous. These are not solutions.”
She said she believes the projects were not engineered properly and would cause more problems than they would solve.
She added that the proposals call for removal of one restroom, part of the playground, some mature vegetation and The Map of the Grand Canyons of La Jolla, the 2,200-square-foot display that opened in October 2020 containing more than 100 life-size mosaics of creatures found just offshore.
City representatives did not immediately respond to the La Jolla Light’s request for comment.
Next steps
The city is creating a draft environmental impact report that is expected to be released for public review this fall. Soon afterward, it will be presented to the Resiliency Advisory Board.
In the first part of next year, there will be public hearings, followed by a presentation to the California Coastal Commission.
A workshop focused on the project sites at La Jolla Shores, Tourmaline and Mission Beach will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 25, at the La Jolla/Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave.
Other project sites are at Sunset Cliffs and Ocean Beach.
For more information about the plan and to take the survey, visit sandiego.gov/climate-resilient-sd/projects/coastal-resilience-master-plan.◆
