The Association for the City of La Jolla continues to work towards incorporation.
Incorporation into a city of La Jolla would be an unprecedented action, and its proponents are calling for unprecedented efforts to help.
“The city of La Jolla issue is more than just a local pursuit. It’s a collaboration between vision for regional benefit and prosperity,” said Trace Wilson, who leads the Association for the City of La Jolla, a nonprofit of several La Jollans looking to help La Jolla detach from San Diego.
ACLJ held its first public meeting Sept. 17 to update the community on its progress.
La Jolla is currently a community within the city of San Diego, beholden to San Diego’s laws and policies. No other community in the region has been successful at detachment from a larger city, but the ACLJ believes it is viable.
The vision
A city of La Jolla would run geographically from the southern boundary of Del Mar south to the border with Pacific Beach, and west to east from the Pacific Ocean to Interstate 5.
A city of La Jolla would exclude UC San Diego and Scripps Memorial Hospital.
A city of La Jolla would be run by a hired city manager instead of a politician, Wilson said, along with a city attorney, administrative services, a parks & recreation department, environmental services, planning department, library and public works.
Financial analysis
Source: cityoflajolla.org
Those services would be funded by a city of La Jolla itself, ACLJ posits.
A detached La Jolla would then contract with outside entities, perhaps like the San Diego Police Department, for police services and other agencies for animal control, fire & lifeguard services, ambulance and water/waste water management.
There would be no change to the current power utility company or public school organization, Wilson said.
The road to incorporation is lengthy, however. The first steps involved ACLJ commissioning Richard Berkson for a detailed Preliminary Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis to determine whether detaching from San Diego is feasible.
The analysis showed La Jolla generates $83.8 million in revenue while costing the city $74.8 million in services, Wilson said.
Trace Wilson, ACLJ President
The difference of nearly $9 million, Wilson said, would be due to the city of San Diego upon successful incorporation, “to make sure that this transaction does not harm the city of San Diego.”
This amount shows La Jolla’s incorporation is indeed viable, he said.
Payments are negotiable and are not for a defined period of time, Wilson added.
“This is not just about La Jolla. This is actually trying to help San Diego.” Wilson said.
The next steps
ACLJ is now in the process of preparing an application to the San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission, which helps communities incorporate.
The application must be submitted with the Preliminary Comprehensive Financial Analysis and a petition showing support of 25 percent of the registered voters within the boundaries of La Jolla for the LAFCO application.
The association has until Dec. 1 to collect the signatures and file the application.
The petition does not ask for whether voters support incorporation, Wilson emphasized, only that they support LAFCO looking into the viability of the idea.
Signing the petition is akin to asking LAFCO, “Please look at this report and give us your analysis of whether this is correct,” said ACLJ board member Diane Kane.
ACLJ board members detail how residents can help gather signatures.
Three months into the signature collection process, ACLJ has collected just under 3,000 signatures, Wilson said. It needs about 5,000 more.
“Everyone in this room needs to have five … of their friends and family [go] out and get signatures,” Wilson implored.
Residents are urged to talk to neighbors, host HOA meetings and parties, go door to door or volunteer at an ACLJ event to help collect signatures, Kane said.
The petition must “be filled out perfectly,” Wilson said, with the full date of signature and La Jolla, California 92037 included in the address.
Signature forms, instructions and talking points are available at cityoflajolla.org.
Beyond LAFCO
Once the application is submitted, LAFCO will perform its own feasibility study of a proposed city of La Jolla. If the study shows viability, there will be a balloted vote.
Just over 50 percent of San Diegans will have to agree to the detachment; La Jollans will be asked in a separate vote to agree as well.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Wilson said.
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