A project planned for Hidden Valley Road by the Friends of Chabad of La Jolla Shores was the topic of discussion Tuesday, Jan. 9 by a group of 17 concerned La Jolla residents who gathered at a local dentist’s office.
The project, which proposes a 10,500-square-foot facility with a 96-seat worship room, a 16-student pre-school and a 28-space underground parking structure on less than 1 acre of land, was presented to the La Jolla Shores Association at a monthly meeting on Dec. 13. A single-family house currently occupies the site.
Many who reside on Hidden Valley Road, as well as on Ardath and Torrey Pines roads, said they were worried the project’s size and scale would increase traffic and alter the character of the community, which is a single-family residential zone.
“We get nothing out of this besides congestion and a worse place to live,” said a Torrey Pines Road resident, who wished to remain anonymous. “We don’t need this huge monstrosity near our properties.”
At the Dec. 13 presentation to the Shores Association, both the project planning consultant and architect told audience members that services would be held in the morning daily for a small group and on Saturdays for the entire 30-member congregation, according to a report from the La Jolla Shores Association. The congregation could increase to 50 members, the report said.
Project representatives also informed the association that preschool hours would range from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
Residents at the meeting requested that parents dropping their children off at the pre-school be required to use the underground parking and not park on the street, and were also uneasy that Chabad of La Jolla Shores would attempt to expand its facility to an empty lot, which is owned by the city water department and located directly across the street from the proposed site.
No current negotiations between Chabad of La Jolla Shores and the city had been made at the time of the meeting, according to project representatives.
The group of residents hopes to request a focused traffic study by city officials and plans to oppose construction of the project at a La Jolla Shores Association special meeting, which has been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 31, according to Sherri Lightner, president of the La Jolla Shores Association.
The city’s development services department completed a preliminary review on the project in June, and Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ezagui of Friends of Chabad of La Jolla Shores sent a letter with details of the proposed project alerting property owners within 300 feet of the lot, according to neighboring residents.
Chabad of La Jolla Shores still needed to obtain site development and coastal development permits for the project at the time of the meeting, according to the association’s report.
The official notice of application has not been issued by the city, but Lightner expects it will be out within a week, she said.