The La Jolla Community Foundation now aims to break ground next September.
Construction on the first phase of the Village Streetscape plan, a multi-year, multi-million dollar effort by the La Jolla Community Foundation to overhaul and improve Girard Avenue from Prospect to Silverado streets, will likely not begin in January as previously hoped.
The project is “more likely” to begin next September, LJCF Chair Phyllis Pfeiffer said at an Oct. 1 event to thank foundation supporters and update them on Streetscape progress.
Currently, the plan is in the permitting stage, having gone through minor adjustments after discussions with the city of San Diego about long-term maintenance responsibility, Pfeiffer said.
She offered thanks to individuals who have donated six-figure amounts or more to the project and the group at large for their contributions.
Pfeiffer also acknowledged the support of a few public officials who have “gone above and beyond to help us,” she said, from grants at the local and state level to facilitating the work with the city.
A federal grant is also in the works; the amount cannot yet be announced but “it’s a significant amount of money,” she said.
Once that funding is secured, construction may begin, Pfeiffer said. “We’re still aiming for January. We still have our fingers crossed.”
Streetscape began as a simple goal “to beautify the street,” architect Mark Steele said, but designs evolved as the project became “more than just beautifying. It was creating pedestrian safety. It was creating places for people to come and … spend some time.”
The project focuses on four main components, Steele said: Intersections, landscaping, lighting and seating.
“Crossing the street can be pretty dicey,” he said, explaining the designs create curb extensions so “you’re not crossing four lanes of traffic, you’re crossing two.”
At the Girard Avenue and Wall Street intersection, the curb extension will result in a “kind of plaza, … a really interesting place,” he said. “That little plaza is something that we think could be one of the main centerpieces of The Village.
Further south in front of Girard Gourmet, a similar concept will improve the mid-block crossing, Steele said, creating places that, with additional trees, lights and benches, will promote people eating and gathering for conversation.
And at Girard and Silverado Street, which Steele called “the main intersection in The Village,” curb extensions and more will be used for “a more intimate intersection that also is a safer, more pleasant, place to be.”
Current landscaping is not only “pretty terrible looking,” Steele said, but also lacks sufficient shade.
The designs address this by increasing the number of trees and adding flowering trees, along with boxwood hedges and more for color.
Lighting will be upgraded through the addition of more acorn lights, seen in other places throughout the city; Steele will be “grouping them into bunches” to create visual interest, “almost like sculptural pieces,” he said.
“We actually did a study of the light levels at the intersections and sidewalks, and they don’t even meet city standards,” he said of the need for more lights.
Benches of wood and stone will be added throughout the Streetscape, Steele said.
“Once we create this wonderful place, we’re going to want to sit around.”
In all, the Streetscape will have 63 new benches, 49 new trees, 51 lights, and an additional 9,100 square feet of public space.
LJCF member George Hauer called on those at the Oct. 1 to consider donating to the project as “an opportunity to create a legacy,” noting naming plaques for trees, benches, a donor recognition wall and the plazas are available at different levels from $12,000 to $500,000.
The Streetscape plan is “the beginning of the recreation of La Jolla,” he said. “This is going to happen. … How far can we go with this?”
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