Solana Beach receives update on La Colonia Master Plan

The Solana Beach City Council unanimously voted March 27 to approve a two-year, $70,000 extension to Van Dyke Landscape Architects to continue work on the La Colonia Master Plan.

The extension follows outreach efforts by the city in which residents had a chance to fill out a questionnaire online or at events last year such as the Spring Egg Hunt at La Colonia Park and Fiesta Del Sol. Funding will come from the city’s general fund undesignated reserves.

The additional work will include alternatives to the La Colonia Master Plan updates, interviews with local residents and other involved with the park and architectural layouts, according to a city staff report.

“One of the comments received during the workshop and the outreach efforts was inclusion of a building as an extension of the community center for various purposes in the new vacant lot,” a report from interim City Manager Dan King said. “VDLA is a full landscape architectural firm and would need the professional services of a full architectural firm. Staff is seeking council’s authorization to amend the PSA with VDLA to include the additional services.”

It also follows the city’s purchase of a vacant lot adjacent to the park, which now needs to be included in the La Colonia Master Plan.

The city’s efforts to make a plan for La Colonia Park and community center date back to 2006, when council members at the time established an ad-hoc committee tasked with making recommendations for park improvements. The next year, those recommendations led to an agreement with Van Dyke, which developed three conceptual design options.

In the years since, the city completed construction of the Veterans’ Honor Courtyard in 2016, completed construction of the La Colonia Skate Park in 2019, and is in the process of revamping the tot lot playground.

Marineke Vandervort, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Dieguito, said the organization has been serving La Colonia since 2003. Some of the opportunities for the club in the master plan, she added, could include events for the community’s youth and seniors.

“We’re a youth-serving organization, but we’re very aware of the importance of having youth and seniors be together for the health of everyone involved,” Vandervort said.

Council members also discussed a possible community garden, if there was enough of an effort to maintain it.

“I think there are possible mitigations if we design the space such that it included a couple of benches or something, and a place for public art that we can maybe quickly turn it, if we needed to, from a community garden into a pollinator area that just uses mature plants that didn’t need a lot of maintenance or something like that,” Solana Beach City Councilmember Dave Zito said.