With budget season for the 2025-26 fiscal year underway at San Diego City Hall, an initial budget memo submitted by City Councilman Joe LaCava contains a list of some big-ticket items for La Jolla.

As part of the annual budget cycle, each council member submits a memo to the independent budget analysts office with a list of requests for community projects that the city could fund and execute.

LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, put several citywide efforts in his memo for the fiscal year that begins July 1, such as funding for police, libraries, arts and culture and homelessness services.

However, La Jolla-centric projects also are included.

Scripps Park

The memo asks for funding from the city Planning Department to prepare a Scripps Park Land Resource Management Plan and environmental impact report. Both have been seen as a pathway toward resolving ongoing conflicts between sea lions and people at La Jolla Cove, which is immediately adjacent to Scripps Park.

“That line item, along with most of the other La Jolla-related items, stands at the top from our annual La Jolla community groups capital projects priority list that we submit to [LaCavas office],” said La Jolla Parks & Beaches President Bob Evans.

If and when the Scripps Park plan is developed, “I want to be first to the table to discuss,” Evans added.

The memo also asks that the La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Village Planned District Ordinances be updated.

Some other Planning Department projects are not expressly for La Jolla but would apply to the area and have been sought for years, including electricians dedicated for lighting fixtures managed by the Parks & Recreation Department. In recent years, lighting outages meant darkened park spaces, including in Scripps Park and La Jolla Shores.

Roadwork

“Priority for street paving and repairs” is listed in the memo for La Jolla Shores Drive between Avenida de la Playa and Horizon Way, Nautilus Street between Fay Avenue and West Muirlands Drive and La Jolla Mesa Drive between Colima Street and Deer Hill Court.

The memo also requests continued collaboration on the ongoing Village streetscape project on Girard Avenue, funding for a “comprehensive traffic circulation study of highly impacted beach areas” and a comprehensive traffic study at the area known as The Throat near the entrance to La Jolla Shores, where La Jolla Parkway becomes Torrey Pines Road.

A traffic study for the area of La Jolla known as The Throat is requested as part of an initial budget memo submitted by San Diego City Councilman Joe LaCava. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon)

Park spaces

The memo also recommends funding for “projects listed in the Coastal Resilience Master Plan,” which, for La Jolla, includes two projects in La Jolla Shores involving redevelopment of Kellogg Park and the addition of berms and seawalls.

Members of the La Jolla Shores Association previously stated their disapproval of the projects but did not respond to the La Jolla Light’s recent request for further comment.

The budget memo also requests funding from the Parks & Recreation Department for increased “cleaning, sanitation and trash pickup for all shoreline parks at overlooks and [restroom facilities known as] comfort stations” and to expand median maintenance to include medians and parkways east of The Throat and the median west of La Jolla Shores Drive.”

Another item, divided between Parks & Recreation for daytime efforts and the San Diego Police Department for nighttime, would “intensify security and code enforcement of overnight parking, vehicle habitation, sidewalk vending and beach fires in all La Jolla beaches and shoreline parks.”

Partially and unfunded projects

“There are several projects that are partially funded or funded through their next phase,” LaCava wrote. “I ask that these projects be prioritized to accomplish promises previously made by the city.”

They are:

• Widen and rebuild the sidewalk adjacent to Coast Boulevard at Scripps Park• Complete the Gilman Drive segment of the Coastal Rail Trail bikeway• Repair handrails on the Children’s Pool seawall• Complete a study and repair or replace handrails and steps for ocean access at the Camino de la Costa viewpoint• Complete a feasibility study to improve beach access via a pedestrian walkway off Spindrift Drive at The Marine Room

The memo includes a list of unfunded projects “derived primarily from requests submitted by community planning groups,” LaCava wrote. Earlier this year, representatives of La Jolla groups got together to compile lists of proposals as one- and five-year projects.

They include:

• Resurface the La Jolla Shores boardwalk• Resurface the La Jolla Bike Path• Repair and replace street lighting with lampposts and globe lights throughout La Jolla• Repair deteriorating sidewalks, curbs and gutters throughout La Jolla

Community volunteer Diane Kane, who compiled the list of five-year projects, said that with the release of LaCavas memo, “at least were now on his radar.” However, she said the memo also should include proposals that address “over-tourism, which is causing so much damage to the parks along the coast.”

Additional unfunded projects include installation of roundabouts at Virginia Way and High Street, Prospect and Silverado streets in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and along La Jolla Shores Drive.

Further, the memo asks for enhanced pedestrian safety through these and other unfunded projects:

• Install and upgrade pedestrian-activated signals on La Jolla Boulevard between Palomar Avenue and Colima Street• Repair or replace crosswalks on La Jolla Shores Drive between Torrey Pines Road and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, particularly on the west side• Install stop signs and crosswalks at all intersections west of La Jolla Shores Drive

Going forward, the council memos will be reviewed, and more will be submitted in January. The budget will be finalized in the spring.