The La Jolla Community Planning Association is considering whether to reopen the door to hybrid meetings held in person and online and will have a special meeting next month to decide.

The decision would not launch hybrid meetings but could give LJCPA the authority to hold them if it chooses.

“We have had several requests from committees asking about virtual meetings or hybrid meetings,” trustee Greg Jackson said at LJCPA’s in-person meeting Oct. 3 at The Bishop’s School. “But there is real nuance here.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, community planning groups such as LJCPA were bound by the Brown Act, the state’s open-meetings law, which limits the ways in which teleconference meetings are held.

“It meant no online meetings the way we [became] used to them [during the pandemic],” Jackson said.

During the pandemic, in-person meetings were suspended statewide in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID, and online meetings became the norm.

When the state of emergency associated with the pandemic was lifted and in-person meetings resumed, rules were put in place stating that, for some government entities, if the majority of voting members are present in person, other participants could attend virtually.

The San Diego City Council operates under those rules.

In discussing the possibility of having that apply to LJCPA, Jackson said “[community planning groups] are independent organizations, they are not government organizations. … But the city said if you want to be a recognized CPG, you have to comply with the Brown Act.”

However, such boards can take specific action to offer hybrid meetings while still adhering to the Brown Act. That includes having the hybrid option stated in LJCPA’s operating procedures, which would require a vote of its members.

“So if we, as trustees, take this action, we can, if we choose, have hybrid meetings,” Jackson said.

That would require a “members meeting” with at least 31 members present to vote on whether to add the provision to the procedures.

Should LJCPA make the change, it also would apply to its subcommittees, which include the La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee, La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee, La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board and La Jolla Planned District Ordinance Committee.

“The proposed change … is not to mandate teleconferencing, it’s to open the door for it, should we choose,” said LJCPA trustee Brian Will.

After a brief discussion about whether various La Jolla venues — including the Recreation Center and the library — are equipped for those types of meetings and whether they are feasible, the board voted unanimously to have the special members meeting in conjunction with its regular November meeting.

The details of hybrid meetings would be determined if the option is approved.

The issue of online meeting attendance caused a stir after the La Jolla Shores Association board voted 5-4 in August to support a controversial parking proposal for The Shores.

However, only board members who attended the meeting in person could vote, and several members who attended online argued that if they had been allowed to vote, the outcome would have been different.

The Shores Association board decided last month to submit a letter to the city of San Diego expressing concerns about how LJSA trustees participating in a meeting virtually are not able to vote due to Brown Act requirements, and it expressed a desire for changes that would allow for virtual voting at community planning or advisory group meetings.

Other LJCPA news

Bocce benches: LJCPA board member and local bocce player Chas. Dye announced that progress is being made toward installing new benches near the bocce court at the Recreation Center following expressions of support from officials of Enhance La Jolla, the nonprofit that manages the Maintenance Assessment District in The Village.

Dye said a plan to install three 8-foot-long benches along Draper Avenue next to the court would cost about $5,600, which he said would be covered by donations. The estimated time frame for installation is six to 12 weeks, so Dye said he expects the benches to be in place early next year.

Cityhood meeting: After a lengthy debate, LJCPA voted to co-sponsor an upcoming informational event planned by the Association for the City of La Jolla, which is shepherding a continuing effort to have La Jolla detach from the city of San Diego and form its own city.

The event, said Association for the City of La Jolla member Diane Kane, is intended to look at La Jolla’s infrastructure needs and opportunities to improve its public spaces.

“The work we are doing will be beneficial no matter what happens, because there are a number of different outcomes of this initiative that don’t all end in cityhood,” Kane said. “There are a number of other things we can do to move the community forward, and whatever those outcomes are would require this type of exercise anyway.”

She said the “visioning event” will explore “what can we do [as a city of La Jolla] that we cannot do now.”

The meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, at the La Jolla/Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave.

Some in attendance at the LJCPA meeting questioned whether the board should partner with the cityhood backers. As a co-sponsor, the group will be asked to help organize the items that will be discussed and notify its 151 members about the meeting.

The board voted to support the event without expressly endorsing the cityhood effort.

Next meeting: The La Jolla Community Planning Association will have both its regular and special meeting beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, at a location to be determined. The agenda will be posted 72 hours in advance at lajollacpa.org. ♦