Questions arise about how the new La Jolla Coastal Conservancy will coexist with the established Parks & Beaches efforts, with more information coming.

How will the newly launched La Jolla Coastal Conservancy coexist with the established La Jolla Parks & Beaches when they have overlapping goals? That’s one of the questions a few LJP&B board members raised at the LJP&B meeting Sept 30.

The board then tabled two action items to transfer funds from LJP&B to the Coastal Conservancy, pending a discussion of how the two groups will collaborate.

La Jolla Parks and Beaches, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation, founded in 2011 to preserve, protect and enhance the parks, beaches and other recreational resources, covering from just south of La Jolla Shores through Bird Rock.

The La Jolla Coastal Conservancy is also a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which officially launched in September to operate in a public-private partnership with the city of San Diego to collect private donations for a number of projects to maintain and improve shoreline land from just above Coast Walk Trail southwest to just south of Whale View Point. 

The Coastal Conservancy process, board Chair Brenda Fake told lajolla.ca in August, is modeled after that of Friends of Coast Walk Trail, which Fake founded in 2010 to improve and maintain Coast Walk Trail.

Fake, who is also a LJP&B board member, also said at the time that groups like Parks & Beaches will continue to function, offering ideas and a community outreach forum that Fake hopes will help the Coastal Conservancy raise funds.

LJP&B board member Ann Dynes expressed concern, however, that the Conservancy might “preempt La Jolla Parks & Beaches for anything relating to Scripps Park” and other overlapping sites.

“I think we should consider having a conversation about the relationship between [LJP&B] and the Conservancy,” Dynes continued Sept 30, emphasizing she is “not trying to create a mess” but instead clarify the overlap.

The La Jolla Coastal Conservancy “is designed to complement every other community group here,” said Bob Evans, currently LJP&B president but terming out of that role imminently. 

Evans is also involved with fundraising for the Coastal Conservancy.

The Conservancy has “its own special purpose [and] relationship with the city,” Evans said. “It’s here to support.”

LJP&B has a “very long, distinguished career in this community,” Dynes said, adding “it sounds like La Jolla Parks & Beaches should no longer bother to raise funds for Scripps Park or anything within the [La Jolla Park Coastal District].”

The role of the Conservancy “is not to displace anything that’s ever been created or planned to do here,” Evans reiterated. “We’re a separate entity.”

The Conservancy aims only to streamline what is now a lengthy process to improve city property with one “master permit” instead of piecemeal permits, Fake said.

The Conservancy has already secured a special use permit from the city, similar to those given to Forever Balboa Park, the San Diego Parks Foundation and other organizations established to enhance and support city services, which will allow it to carry out numerous projects without an application process every time.

If LJP&B wants to raise money for a certain project, “that’s great,” Fake said. “We’ve got the permit.”

Parks & Beaches board member Alexandra Corsi praised Evans and Fake for their efforts, adding the Conservancy is “going to be very, very good for our community, and I think it’s a great partnership with the city.”

Dynes persisted in her questions, as did others.

“We need to know how the two groups are going to meld together,” board member Sally Miller said. 

LJP&B board member Melinda Merryweather took issue with the Coastal Conservancy’s coverage zone, noting it’s “favoring an area” that excludes Windansea and Bird Rock.

The Parks & Beaches group will place a formal discussion of the organizations’ overlap on a future agenda, Fake and Evans said.

“It does need to be discussed, and it will be,” Fake said.

In the meantime, a motion to table two agenda items for action to transfer to the Conservancy a total of $19,149 from two different LJP&B accounts earmarked for rehabilitation of the Whale View Point stairs passed with 11 votes of support, two abstentions and Corsi opposed.