LA JOLLA – With its permit for outdoor cafe-style dining in La Jolla Shores running out, the La Jolla Shores Business Association is working on plans to make it a permanent fixture in the beach neighborhood.
Since 2000, the business strip along Avenida de la Playa in La Jolla Shores has been closed to traffic and servicing extra outdoor dining areas. There is now an application in process to make these changes permanent.
To find out about the plan in the Shores to continue outdoor dining in a promenade closed off to vehicular traffic, La Jolla Village News held a Q&A with Phil Wise to get more details.
Wise is a consultant for the La Jolla Shores Business Association and co-chair of the Avenida de la Playa Street Dining Event.
LJVN: What is the plan in the works for a permanent solution to keeping outdoor dining in La Jolla Shores?
WISE: Our plan was always to continue the outdoor dining program in some form or another. The city of San Diego came up with what they call “Spaces as Places,” which allowed street dining all over the city.
We wanted to keep the basic format that we’d been using since the start of the pandemic, which was with the use of “streeteries” where patrons dined on raised platforms that sat on top of the street pavement. One of our main goals was to keep vehicular traffic off the street, as it would prove detrimental to those dining adjacent to traffic lanes. The only way to do this under the city’s Spaces as Places rules was to install a promenade, which kept traffic off the street.
LJVN: What are the advantages?
WISE: Who wants to dine sitting next to moving traffic? It’s dangerous, noisy, and unpleasant. Plus, a walking promenade with visitors strolling down to the Pacific Ocean is more pleasant than vehicles.
LJVN: What are the barriers to getting outside dining established permanently?
WISE: Our biggest barrier was our need to replace the parking spaces that are being occupied by the restaurant streeteries. Even though these parking spaces were created for commercial use and had a time limit of just 90 minutes, the California Coastal Commission stepped in and felt we were making beach access for the general public difficult. The city worked with the Coastal Commission in determining what areas close to the beach needed to comply with this mandate.
Once this was resolved, the city became the decision maker as to how the need for replacement parking would be handled. It’s now up to the city, not the Coastal Commission. Restaurant streeteries now occupy the parking spaces, and it has become difficult to ascertain the exact number of parking spaces that need to be replaced.
In addition to those streeteries within the promenade, two additional restaurants, Jeff’s Burgers and Dough Momma, also have streeteries just west of the promenade. These two restaurants are also part of our program, and they needed to comply with the replacement parking rules.
In all, it was determined that 26 parking stalls were being occupied. However, with the new state-mandated daylight parking rules, three parking stalls became illegal as they are too close to existing crosswalks.
Additionally, it was discovered that there are two street-intake sewers where it was thought that one could park next to. We discovered that the curbs adjacent to these sewer intakes were red-lined and that people had been parking there illegally for years. As a result, the need to replace 26 parking spaces was reduced by five, and the new number was 21.
We then canvassed the neighborhood to learn that there were 10 legal parking spaces that had been removed from the marketplace. These 10 spaces will be brought back for use by the public. The city gave us credit for the discovery of these 10 parking spaces, so the final number of replacement parking spaces has been reduced to 11 stalls.
The approved plans contain drawings for the creation of these new parking spaces. This was our biggest barrier, although we still receive some negative feedback from a small minority of locals who seem just afraid of change in general.
LJVN: Are there any new rules establishing a permanent outdoor dining presence in La Jolla Shores?
WISE: As far as I know, the only rules are those mandated by the city of San Diego Spaces as Places department.
LJVN: Tell us about the La Jolla Shores Business Association and its connection with this project.
WISE: Street dining on Avenida de la Playa was first a project of the La Jolla Shores Association, which came up with the concept way back in March of 2020. Around 2022, the program began to become more complicated, and it really became the responsibility of the local merchants located on and close to Avenida de la Playa, to assume ownership as the program benefited them the most.
The program also began to become expensive to run, so the merchants reestablished the La Jolla Shores Business Association, which is separate from the La Jolla Shores Association. Since 2022, the LJSBA has run the program with the individual restaurants being financially responsible for their individual streeteries.
LJVN: When successful, will this project have to be approved by any La Jolla civic organizations or by the City Planning Commission, the City Council, or any other governmental entity?
WISE: From the get-go, we have worked closely with various city departments, namely the city’s Special Events Department and the city’s Department of Development Services. These are the city departments that have reviewed all our applications and issued the various permits we’ve needed to operate on the street.
LJVN: How long will this take to complete? Will it require new rules, permitting?
WISE: We now have our approved permit to properly create the street promenade and construct the needed replacement parking.
Our first need is to finalize just what improvements will be made to the street to convert it into a world-class promenade, one that’s unique to San Diego and one that will make the most of our very special Mediterranean climate. Each restaurant is in the process of obtaining approval for its streetery permit, which will be larger and more elaborate than what exists today.
It’s not realistic to construct anything on the street until the summer season is over. This would be way too disruptive to business. It’s hoped that most of the work for a new promenade and new streeteries will be done this fall.
LJVN: Explain the concept of “European-style” dining and an outdoor “promenade.”
WISE: How fortunate we are to live in a Mediterranean climate, a climate that exists in just a few parts of the world. We must make the most of the special environment we have in San Diego.
Outdoor dining is nothing new. One can find remnants of it in the ruins of Pompeii. Just walk down Avenida de la Playa towards the Pacific. Start at El Paseo Grande on a beautiful, balmy night and enjoy the vibe coming from the various restaurants, with kids playing on the street. It’s just San Diego at its best.
While the rest of the country is having a heat wave with high humidity, we are understanding how fortunate we are to live where we do.
La Jolla Shores Business Association
A nonprofit focused on promoting the economic vitality and community involvement in the La Jolla Shores neighborhood. It aims to improve the quality of life for both residents and visitors by supporting businesses and advocating for improvements. Its main goal is to enhance the La Jolla Shores community by fostering a thriving business environment and encouraging community participation.
The association works on initiatives such as protecting, beautifying, and improving the quality of life in La Jolla Shores, advocating for the interests of area businesses and residents, and collaborating with the city and other organizations on projects like outdoor dining programs.
Dining and Cooking