Torrey Pines: MAD on the Mesa

by Councilman Scott Peters
for the La Jolla Village News
September 2005

The Torrey Pines Road landscaped medians were first completed in 1996 to enhance the surroundings on the Mesa. Initially maintained by the construction contractor, the medians on the mesa have since been ignored and have fallen into disrepair. Like so many projects, the vision was there, but the funding mechanism was not in place.

Home to groundbreaking scientific research, medical, biotech, and tourism companies, the Torrey Pines Mesa is essential to the economic wellbeing of the City of San Diego. After hearing from property owners who were disappointed with the poor condition of the main arteries, I wanted to help them set up a plan to clean up the medians located along North Torrey Pines Road. Over the past several months, working with property owners and City staff, we came together in an effort to preserve the landscaped medians and create a Maintenance Assessment District (“MAD”).

In the City of San Diego, a MAD provides enhanced levels of maintenance services in the public right-of-way, such as dead tree removal, turf mowing, litter removal, irrigation and sidewalk steam cleaning. It is a dedicated funding source that stays in the community, so they can have regular maintenance and don’t have to compete with the rest of the City for a crew to clean trash or cut grass.

For instance, every day residents and businesses located in Carmel Valley enjoy beautifully maintained landscaped medians and public spaces. The MAD formed in Carmel Valley, before the area was built now provides dedicated maintenance crews who care for the public space. Citizens can contact their MAD area manager and get trees trimmed or weeds pulled with minimal effort. Anyone that has tried to get this done on Torrey Pines Road was probably very frustrated.

The proposed North Torrey Pines MAD would provide for the maintenance of medians and right-of-way landscaping and services along North Torrey Pines Road (from North Genesee Avenue to the Northern boundary of the Torrey Pines Science Park Subdivision).

This August, property owners located on the Mesa provided my office with 47 signatures petitioning the City to begin the process of forming the North Torrey Pines Road MAD, a sufficient number to begin the MAD formation process. Once received by the City Council, the petition will initiate a number of administrative steps and reviews, leading to a final vote by all assessable property owners by a mail-in ballot.

I share in on the community’s enthusiasm for developing a MAD on the Mesa. I will continue to work hard walking them through the process, which should be a positive outcome for everyone in the City of San Diego.