Restoring the ocean view: Overgrown vegetation removed along Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla

After years of requests from the La Jolla Parks & Beaches advisory board (chiefly member Melinda Merryweather), the city of San Diego began removing the thick vegetation from a fence along the west side of Torrey Pines Road at Amalfi Drive and at Prospect Place to reveal ocean views long blocked by shrubbery.

Work will continue for several weeks and include removing the existing fence and replacing it with a lower one, so the greenery can’t grow back.

Merryweather said it has taken her 20 years of requests to open the view. “I’m so delighted this is finally happening and we get our beautiful ocean view again,” she said.

“For those residents who think they can’t make a difference in the community, this is a lesson that if they have time and persistence, they can make a difference.”

Merryweather also said she’d like to establish a project similar to the “Adopt-A-Highway” program and call it the “Adopt-A-View” program, so those who would like to volunteer and maintain the views (by managing the vegetation) could do so.