San Diego lets there be light after La Jolla tree gets a trim

San Diego officials say the city trimmed a tree right next to a newly installed light post that a La Jolla Shores resident thinks shouldn’t have been put there in the first place.

The streetlight was installed in the past several weeks on the northeast corner of La Jolla Shores Drive and Calle Corta, city spokesman Anthony Santacroce said. It is part of a project to install underground utility lines from La Jolla Shores Drive west to the ocean and from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography south to Avenida de la Playa.

Nearly three years after the La Jolla Shores Association first approved design elements for new streetlights in the area, a total of 37 lights with new circuits were installed — 31 acorn-style post-top decorative streetlights and six cobra-head streetlights that extend from the pole.

One of the cobra-style lights was placed under a large pine tree whose branches were resting atop and to the side of it. A second tree is just to the right.

Santacroce said last week that he connected with City Council President Joe LaCava’s office and heard that the city’s urban forestry team had a work order to trim the tree around the light. That process typically takes about 45 days, Santacroce said.

The issue was resolved much quicker, however. Santacroce told the La Jolla Light this week that the tree had been trimmed and remains structurally sound.

Still, Shores resident Janie Emerson called the placement of the streetlight under the tree “one of the more ridiculous things a city crew has done in a long time.” The light could have been placed on the southeast corner, where trees and shrubs wouldn’t be a factor, she said.

An explanation of why the streetlight was placed where it is was not immediately available.

Emerson said she contacted the city suggesting that the streetlight be moved where there are no trees or that the pole be lowered by two or three inches to avoid having to prune the tree. Cobra-head lights are about 27 feet tall.

“Yes, that corner needed light,” Emerson said. “But there was no reason to put the light on the one corner that has two huge trees. … And this is one of the trees with a huge canopy that we so desperately need and the city so desperately needs to meet requirements for climate action.”

Santacroce said city arborists trimmed the tree in a way that would not damage its health or appearance. He added that further maintenance is part of the city’s regular budget, though he did not have a breakdown of the costs.

To address matters concerning trees, the city encourages residents to file a report on the Get It Done app under the tree maintenance category.