UCSD plans include two new colleges, a Target store

Asked and answered!

Last month, the La Jolla Shores Association (LJSA) asked that UC San Diego provide an in-depth presentation about planned development on campus over the next 15-20 years. So, UCSD director of campus planning Robert Clossin spoke at the June 12 LJSA meeting on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography campus, noting planned changes include the addition of at least two more colleges, more housing and a Target store.

LJSA hears proposals for development on the campus, west of Interstate 5 (the remaining falls under the University City Planning Group review), specifically projects that border the La Jolla Shores community and toward the center of campus.

Projecting a campus population of around 65,000 — including students and staff — by 2030, Clossin said, “we are a small city” and the goal is house 65 percent of students on campus, through mixed-use facilities such as the North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood currently under construction.

“A lot of our strategy is looking at low- density areas and developing those to accommodate growth,” he said.

“We are looking to develop two new undergraduate colleges. We have the Sixth College today … the Seventh College will be built in existing facilities around the proposed light rail station (toward the center of campus, with service expected in 2021) to house third-year students and above; and the Eighth College will be on the south end of college and house 2,000 beds, and would be located near the Theater District.”

However, he said the latter is “very conceptual at this time” and would likely be mixed use (campus developers would be open to the type of retail that would go on the ground floor).

Other projects in the planning or design phase includes: a new engineering building; the Pepper Canyon West Upper Division Housing complex, between Gilman Drive and Rupertus Lane toward the east side of campus; a new Triton Pavilion, a six-building center smack dab in the middle of campus; a Target store in the current bookstore; a utility plant expansion; a biomedical research building; marine conservation and technology facility; vision research center; fire station; and a selection of smaller projects.

LJSA trustee John Sheridan interjected: “You say you want to be sensitive to the integration and transition between the campus and the community, but we are not really seeing that. People come here, speak about UCSD and basically tell us how it is going to be. It’s not a discussion.”

But Clossin said the University would be “sensitive” to height restrictions on some of the border projects to ease the transition and keep the taller buildings to the inside of campus.

He also said UCSD would work on traffic mitigation as the number of people coming to campus changes. The planned Blue Line trolley station (next to the Geisel Library near the center of campus) will be an improvement, and the University would install a traffic a signal south of Gilman Drive to improve traffic circulation.

A full list of projects in the works can be found at plandesignbuild.ucsd.edu

In other LJSA news ...

Utilities: Jim Nabong with the City’s Transportation & Stormwater Division delved into a project to bring some overhead power lines underground in La Jolla Shores.

When the undergrounding project gets underway, utilities will be contained to short “pedestals” and boxy “transformers.”

The scope of work is from the beach out to La Jolla Shores Drive (Phase I) and some properties east of La Jolla Shores Drive (Phase II), and other smaller streets such as La Jolla Scenic Drive.

The summer construction moratorium is underway until Labor Day, but Nabong said there will be some construction activity during that time.

“We do not have an exact date at which work will begin, as we relying on SDG&E to see when they are ready, but expecting work to start in the next two to three months, and work until summer construction moratorium 2020,” he said. “It’s going to be a long way. But we are going to see what we can do to speed things up.”

As part of the project, new street lights will be installed and existing street lights will be replaced.

More information can be found at sandiego.gov/undergrounding/schedule — with The Shores area known as Block 1J.

Details have also been posted at lajollashoresassociation.org

Gate contract revoked: Deputy director of Shoreline Parks Dan Daneri spoke briefly, and said the contract in which the City engaged to lock the Kellogg Park parking lot gates had been changed.

“It is no longer with Securitas,” he said. “There is a new contract out for security services and we will work with them to get the gates locked as close to 10 p.m. as possible … they have a list of gates they open and close on a route.”

The board has lamented that in recent months, the gates were not locked from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., per the contract.

Vending in Shores parks: Park Ranger Rich Belesky said of a recent bill that permits vending in public parks: “SB 946 is a state law that invalidates City laws on vending in City parks. The word is coming down to us that the City Attorney’s office and City Council will start to look at changing the laws over the summer.”

In the meantime, peripheral regulations such as not hanging things on City property, are being enforced as a stopgap to limiting the vendors.

Scooter corrals: In light of the City’s proposed “scooter corrals” an ad hoc committee formed to explore locations and make recommendations to the City.

Representing the office of District 1 City Council member Barbara Bry, Mauricio Medina said the City proposed the following locations: a residential frontage on Camino del Oro, Vallecitos next to beach bathrooms, Vallecitos next to a parking lot entrance, on Vallecitos at Camino del Oro, in Kellogg Park next to the dumpsters and Camino del Oro at El Paseo Grande.

“The goal is to stop staging on sidewalks, so we got data from these operators for the hot spots where these vehicles are left,” Medina explained. “If there is a corral near there, operators will be required to stage there. If there is not, they can stage on the sidewalk.”

After brief debate over most of the recommended places (Kellogg Park deemed the only viable one), the board voted to create the review committee that would propose alternative locations where appropriate.

— La Jolla Shores Association next meets 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 10 at the Martin Johnson House on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 8840 Biological Grade. A 6 p.m. reception with refreshments from local vendors precedes the meeting. lajollashoresassociation.org