La Jolla Shores project set to move forward in San Diego coastal resilience plan

La Jolla Shores is among six sites where projects centered on addressing the risk of coastal flooding and erosion are moving forward following the San Diego City Council’s approval of its Coastal Resilience Master Plan.

The council voted Sept. 9 to adopt the coastal resilience plan, which was developed to help the city brace for impacts of climate change, such as sea-level rise. It includes concept-level designs of nature-based solutions such as elevated sand dunes, restored coastal habitats and realigned parks and infrastructure.

The six pilot sites — La Jolla Shores, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach Dog Beach, Ocean Beach oceanfront, Sunset Cliffs and Tourmaline Surfing Park in Pacific Beach — were chosen based on feasibility, resilience needs and environmental benefits, according to the city.

However, the projects in The Shores and Mission Beach are not planned for initial engineering over the next year — unlike those in Ocean Beach, Sunset Cliffs and Pacific Beach — because they don’t yet have dedicated funding streams.

The Coastal Resilience Master Plan is getting funding from federal and state grants.

At La Jolla Shores, the city is proposing an earthen berm lining Kellogg Park and an enhanced seawall in the parking lot that city officials call a “seatwall” because people can sit on it.

The plans were proposed in 2024, when locals expressed concern about the ideas.

Former La Jolla Shores Association president Janie Emerson said at the time that “what they have planned for The Shores is ludicrous. These are not solutions.”

Moreover, she said the city should have gone to local planning groups before having a wider public workshop.

“For something like this, they need to come to the community first,” she said. “We’re all passionate about the area and know what will work and what won’t.”

La Jolla Parks & Beaches board President Bob Evans expressed a similar objection.

With the project now approved to move forward, Emerson reiterated to the La Jolla Light that “it will not work” and she continues to be concerned about what she considers a lack of communication between the city and local planning groups.

“They could have come to us and said ‘This is what we have been mandated to do. How can we do it?’ And we would have worked with them on an actual solution,” she said. “Instead they had a workshop and presented an idea that is ludicrous.”

City officials called all the projects “high-level” concept designs that could change significantly after the next steps, which include technical and feasibility studies, cost estimates and additional environmental analysis and community engagement, including workshops in each community where projects are proposed.