Village Visioning and S.D. organic waste recycling plans making headway, Bird Rock council is told

As the La Jolla Village Visioning Committee’s master plan and the city of San Diego’s organic waste recycling plan continue to take shape, the Bird Rock Community Council heard updates on both during its meeting June 7.

The presentations were information-only and the Community Council did not vote.

Master plan

The Village Visioning Committee has been making the rounds to local planning groups in recent months to collect feedback on its streetscape plan. The proposal is intended to provide a comprehensive master plan for the public right of way, street trees, traffic mitigation and more in The Village and surrounding areas.

The Village Visioning Committee is a La Jolla Community Planning Association ad-hoc group of Realtors, architects, engineers and others. The committee has been working on the plan for the past year and a half.

Architect and La Jolla resident Trace Wilson, a member of the committee, has touted the effort as a “macro view of La Jolla … from property line to property line, from Turquoise Street to UCSD and the 5 freeway to the coast.”

To create the plan, Wilson modeled all of La Jolla for a digital makeup of its streets.

The tree portion of the plan, he said, aims to line different streets with different trees so the appearance of each street is “consistent but special.” He said the committee is considering which trees might be appropriate for each street. For example, larger, more pedestrian-oriented streets could have larger, more shade-oriented trees.

Landscaping on La Jolla Boulevard, including its tree canopy, is managed by the Bird Rock Maintenance Assessment District.

While the plan along La Jolla Boulevard in Bird Rock is inspired by roundabouts and traffic calming to reduce speeding and increase safety, Prospect Street in The Village “is one of our main streets, so [part of the plan is] creating a street tree pattern that is different from the rest … and looking at a roundabout in front of the Museum [of Contemporary Art] to create a safer, calmer, more pedestrian-friendly, beautiful environment within the overall cultural district.”

He said Pearl Street in The Village is “in desperate need of beautification,” pedestrian-related improvements and traffic-calming measures.

Community Planning Association President Diane Kane said certain phases are being reviewed by city engineers and then the committee will pursue funding for safety-related improvements.

“We’re trying to think holistically throughout the entire community,” she said. “We’re looking at various modes of travel, making sidewalks more comfortable by making them wider, making them destinations for dining and other gathering spaces and move our right of way into the 21st century.”

BRCC President John Newsam called the effort “really exciting” and said he loves the “increased canopy as part of the plan.”

Organic waste recycling

City recycling specialist Polina Osipova discussed the in-progress rollout of San Diego’s organic waste recycling program, which is intended to keep organic waste such as food scraps out of area landfills, where it releases methane gas as it decomposes. Methane is considered a potent short-term climate pollutant.

A graphic shows what is defined as organic waste under an in-development organic waste recycling program in San Diego.

(Courtesy of city of San Diego)

The program — spurred by state Senate Bill 1383, effective this year — affects all property types, including residential, commercial, government, schools and more. Through the program, an additional refuse bin will be provided to collect the food scraps, soiled paper, yard trimmings and wood waste that make up organic waste. It will be collected by city workers and turned into composting material.

A start date for collections at residences was not announced. Currently, only “Tier 1” businesses, such as grocery stores of 10,000 square feet or more, must participate.

“The changes that are coming from SB 1383 are a pretty big shift away from the way we already do things, which is why the timeline for when the program is being rolled out to city-serviced homes is still being determined,” Osipova said.

The city is working on an implementation plan that will explain the new residential collection process in detail, she said.

She agreed to return for subsequent meetings as the residential rollout gets closer. To learn more, visit sandiego.gov/organicwasterecycling.

Next meeting: The Bird Rock Community Council next meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 5, likely online. Learn more at birdrockcc.org. ◆