In an effort to quell public opposition that led to litigation smothering its first project, Hillel representatives have created a Web site to update La Jollans on the progress of its second crack at building a Jewish student center at 8976 Cliffridge Ave. Starting today, July 24, at a meeting of the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Committee, Hillel representatives will attend La Jolla’s subcommittees, presenting information for the groups’ vote.
“We’re taking a two-pronged approach,” Hillel representative Joshua Richman said. “We’re pursuing the appeal and presenting a new project.”
The nonprofit group’s first proj-ect at the Cliffridge Avenue site “” a .76 acre triangular-shaped parcel at La Jolla Village Drive between Torrey Pines Road and La Jolla Scenic Way “” sat in litigation, which stemmed from a lawsuit filed jointly by the La Jolla Shores Association and an appeal Hillel filed, Richman said. So the group started a new project on the same site, but the organization included changes recommended by the judge from the lawsuit, Richman said.
“Our intentions are transparent. This is not urban sprawl, it’s not the university moving into La Jolla,” Richman said. “There’s no native flora and fauna. We’ve made the building on the site in such a way to minimize impact. Cars will be coming in and out away from the houses.”
Richman said the organization included a noise study, traffic study, archaeological study, geotechnical study, water quality technical report and drainage study and a biology study that will be available on the Web site for residents to view, along with the submittal drawings and plans.
Although Richman said he wanted to retain a cooperative relationship with residents, he is not planning to attend the La Jolla Shores Association’s meeting.
“The Shores Association is not an entity recognized by the City of San Diego,” Richman said.
“We’re not going in front of the Shores Association, but we’re going in front of the planning association and its subcommittees and in front of La Jolla Shores Advisory Board, which is an organization that relates to La Jolla’s Planned District Ordinance.”
Beginning this week, Richman will represent Hillel at La Jolla’s subcommittees, including today’s Traffic & Transportation Advisory Board. Then, on Thursday, Aug. 8, Richman will present Hillel’s project to La Jolla Community Advisory Board for action.
“Starting this week, there will be full presentations. I’ve been asked to limit my presentation to the project’s changes,” Richman said.
According to Richman, Hillel took the lessons the organization learned from the lawsuit and applied them to the new project, including a traffic study and a raptor study, which Richman included on the Web site. Members of the public previously opposed Hillel’s first project, suing the city regarding several issues including an environmental report.
There are many issues, resident Sue Moore said in an interview from June’s Traffic & Transportation meeting; Moore was part of a group against Hillel building at the Cliffridge Avenue site. Residents objected to the development because of traffic and because there were peregrine falcons nesting on the lot, but the city cut down the trees in 2005, Moore said.
“The judge said we needed to restudy raptors and the traffic pedestrian button,” Richman said. “We submitted the same project again to make sure the raptors and traffic were exhaustively studied. So, theoretically, the city should pass it.”
“My understanding is that all the technical studies were redone and they’re all new,” Dan Stricker, Hillel’s project manager for the City of San Diego, said in a previous interview. “One was the biological [study] and it addressed the raptors.”
To view La Jolla Hillel’s documents and studies, go to http://ucsdhillel.org/project.
Hillel will provide a presentation at Thursday’s La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Committee meeting at 4 p.m. at La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. Thursday, Aug. 8, the La Jolla Community Planning Association meeting will be at La Jolla Recreation Center at 6 p.m.
For more information on Hillel, go to www.hillel.org. For more information on the lawsuit, go to www.trlu.org.