The La Jolla Village Merchants Association is taking a new direction in getting its long-awaited “wayfinding” sign program off the ground — literally.
The LJVMA board voted at its May 13 meeting to modify the program so the directional signs will hang as banners on light poles lining Village streets, rather than be at street level.
The signs would use slots set aside for banners not currently in use, said LJVMA Executive Director Jodi Rudick. “So instead of having poles in the ground, we’re using light poles within the banner district.”
Designs or renderings of the banners are not yet available.
The idea of directional signs in La Jolla has been in the works in various iterations since 2015. Previous concepts included posting signs throughout The Village in various sizes and types or painting utility boxes or wrapping them in vinyl with directional messages. Those ideas fizzled.
San Diego County awarded $20,000 to LJVMA in 2022 to help with its program and a $25,000 Neighborhood Reinvestment Program grant to pay for the next phase in the 2024 fiscal year.
In February 2023, with then-LJVMA board member Andy Fotsch leading the project, the board approved a design for the directional signs that Fotsch said would provide a “La Jolla feel” while listing landmarks and other attractions, including the shopping district, hotels, museums and others recommended by the San Diego Tourism Authority. The board budgeted about $2,000 per sign, allowing for 10 signs as a start.
A rendering of La Jolla directional signs presented to local boards was minimally altered (the text below the map was changed from orange to blue) before being approved by the La Jolla Village Merchants Association. (File)
In April 2023, LJVMA approved a contract with Integrated Signs for a list of locations focused on the coast and Scripps Park to direct visitors to The Village. The company’s proposal called for 21 signs to be made and installed within the $20,000 budget. They would include 12 maps of La Jolla to showcase what can be found beyond the coast, including shopping and parking.
However, the project “hit several roadblocks with the city of San Diego and [we] are changing the locations of the signs,” said Genie Clippinger, president of Integrated Signs. Clippinger did not elaborate about the “roadblocks” or the new locations.
At the end of 2024, the board said the intent was to complete the project in 2025. However, no updates were provided last year.
Rudick said May 13 that the board “ran into some challenges with the permitting and it was getting to be very, very expensive … to the point that it wasn’t cost-effective.”
The board recently received a grant to improve its banner program and agreed to use some of the funds to create the wayfinding banners.
By switching to banners instead of signs, Rudick said, “we’re looking at doing a different material but still having wayfinding. So it serves the same need in the spirit of the grant without needing any more engineering … and new infrastructure.”
A timeline for installation was not immediately available.
Other LJVMA news
Small-business funding: San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s field representative Fatima Maciel said at the meeting that as part of the city’s ongoing budget process, funding for the Small Business Enhancement Program was not included in the most recent draft.
SBEP supports small-business efforts citywide.
“We recognize that it is an essential service to a lot of our businesses … but as you all know, it has been a really tough budget year,” Maciel said. “It’s not to diminish any of the work that small businesses are doing here, but unfortunately, we had to keep [funding] to our core services.”
That said, however, since the budget is still in draft form, she encouraged small-business owners to speak out to encourage SBEP funding.
Rudick said SBEP funding is 20% of the LJVMA budget, “so the amount of money we are talking about is significant to our organization. We are going to have to figure something out.”
Next meeting: The La Jolla Village Merchants Association next meets at 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 10, at the La Jolla/Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave. The agenda will be posted 72 hours in advance at lajollabythesea.com. ♦