Given its partnership with local residents trying to get benches installed near the La Jolla Recreation Center bocce court along Draper Avenue, the Enhance La Jolla board learned during its Oct. 16 meeting that the project remains in process with the San Diego Development Services Department.
Local volunteer Chas. Dye, representing a group of players who frequent the bocce court, said the department “has accepted our application … and we have gone through a few iterations with a traffic engineer … and they want the benches three feet away from the curb instead of three feet from the bocce court itself.”
The cost for producing the four proposed benches is estimated at $14,000, plus about $1,500 for installation. About $5,100 in funding is still needed, Dye said, and the benches will not be ordered until the project is fully funded.
Enhance La Jolla has authority to augment services provided by the city, including landscape maintenance, street and sidewalk cleaning, litter and graffiti abatement and additional trash collection. It also can privately fund and complete projects in public spaces, including bench installation.
For the bocce court bench project, the group is helping to facilitate the permit and right-of-way access.
Members of the Enhance La Jolla board meet Oct. 16 at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
Other Enhance La Jolla news
Plant care: Enhance La Jolla also maintains the hanging flower baskets that line the streets of The Village, as well as some other potted street vegetation. But board member Ed Witt said that during recent walk-throughs, he noticed “the watering wasn’t being done properly and the plant care was not being done properly.”
So new plans are being drafted to try to improve the landscaping care.
“The plants we have on the ground and hanging have to be beautiful every single day,” Witt said. “This is La Jolla; it’s not Wisconsin where things die in the winter. We can really keep things beautiful all year-round. … That’s what we’re going to get.”
Board election: The Enhance La Jolla board has a new member following its most recent election: local restaurateur Jason Peaslee.
The board has 13 members, according to its bylaws — seven property owners or representatives of property owners in The Village’s Maintenance Assessment District, three appointed by the La Jolla Community Foundation, one representing the La Jolla Village Merchants Association and two representing the La Jolla community at large.
In its latest election, the board sought candidates for four available three-year seats — two property owners or representatives, a member at large and a member representing the Village Merchants Association.
Incumbents Witt and Peter Wagener ran unopposed for the property owner spots. Peaslee, owner of The Cottage restaurant on Fay Avenue, was the only nominee for the seat representing LJVMA. And incumbent Rick Sparks got the most votes for the at-large seat, beating out La Jolla residents Greg Jackson and Dave Abrams.
Witt, however, noted an “embarrassing” voter turnout, with only 14 ballots cast.
“These elections are held every year … but the only people that can vote are property owners or a proxy of a property owner in the district,” he said. “So if [someone] is going to run, they need to contact property owners in the district.”
Next meeting: The Enhance La Jolla board meets quarterly or as needed. The next meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 700 Prospect St. The agenda will be posted 72 hours in advance at enhancelajolla.org. ♦