City Council passes Torrey Pines funding

Project would make fixes to road corridor

Federal economic stimulus funds are on the horizon to get work started on designs to improve the Torrey Pines Road corridor.

The City Council approved spending $500,000 in federal funds for design work on a project that has been reignited by a group of residents concerned about safety on the stretch of road between La Jolla Shores Drive and Prospect Street.

The community enhancement project was approved in concept by the City Council in November 2008 but was dormant until last month.

The laundry list of improvements calls for such fixes as installing guardrails and sidewalks to enforcing fence standards on public property.

Once stimulus funding is approved by the City Council, La Jolla architect Robert Thiele, who’s spearheading corridor improvements with support from Sherry Nooravi, said it would take several weeks to get the funds transferred from a SANDAG account to a city account. He said it will be given a project number and the city will hire consultants, which will take several months.

Nooravi, a La Jolla newcomer, said last month that she “couldn’t understand that I was living in La Jolla, walking distance from the Village and shops, and had no way to safely cross the street with cars speeding at 50 or 60 mph.”

At a community meeting on June 17, Councilwoman Sherri Lightner said La Jolla’s community advisory groups need to fully vet the project and prioritize its short- and long-term goals. After that, funding sources could be sought to pay for the project, which undoubtedly would be done in several segments over a long period.

She suggested then that forming a maintenance assessment district - a legal mechanism by which property owners can vote to assess themselves to pay and receive services above and beyond what the city normally provides - would be one option to fund a portion of corridor improvements.

For more information visit

www.torreypinesroad.com

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