SAN DIEGO — An effort to make La Jolla its own city is moving forward. The people behind the effort to separate from the city of San Diego achieved an important milestone.
It has been talked about for years, La Jolla separating from San Diego. La Jolla has gathered enough signatures to explore next steps and study how the separation would impact La Jolla and the city of San Diego. They needed 25% of La Jolla's registers voters to sign the petition, which was a little more than 6,500. They received more than 7,000.
The Association for the city of La Jolla is encouraging residents to continue signing the petition in lieu of of any margin of error, a spokesperson told CBS 8 in a statement.
"ACLJ will be collecting signature pages at the La Jolla Farmers Market on Sunday Dec 8th," the spokesperson told said. "Alternatively, people can arrange for signature pages to be picked up by contact us at info@cityoflajolla.org."
"I believe it could be a good thing a really positive thing," said Molly, a La Jolla resident.
Some La Jolla residents support the idea.
"I think sometimes being in a big city there's not as much control over what they can do. Some examples I think parks need to be updated but we might know where exactly those resources," she said.
Advocates say separating La Jolla from the city of San Diego would allow for more local governance and control. This might include services or infrastructure.
Here are next steps, according to the Association for the city of La Jolla board:
"The next step is to file the application with LAFCO by January 31. We will launch a fundraising campaign to raise $200K for the next steps: the application fee to LAFCO is $150K plus legal and other expenses. Anyone wishing to contribute can visit our website at cityoflajolla.org or email info@cityoflajolla.org with inquiries.
We are so appreciative for the volunteers, local businesses and residents who stepped up to make this happen. The groundswell of community support was inspiring! We are excited to move forward."
The study must prove the separation is positive for La Jolla and San Diego. Ultimately, if organizers clear all of the necessary hurdles, this will end up on a ballot for all city of San Diego voters.