Three-story buildings may crop up throughout La Jolla if a last-minute amendment to the Planned District Ordinance (PDO) ” the community’s plan for development ” passes, even as business owners remain largely unaware and uninformed. The Village News canvassed the northern end of La Jolla Boulevard, Pearl Street, Fay and Girard avenues, and Kline and Wall streets to speak to business owners about the three-story proposal. Twenty of the 38 tenants interviewed had never heard of the amendment, or had only seen “no-third-story” signs in residential neighborhoods. Twelve business owners opposed permitting three stories and six favored the recommendation.Three commercial property owners were reached; two supported the third-story proposal and one did not feel informed enough to comment.Opponents expressed worries that three stories will degrade La Jolla’s charm and village atmosphere. Others felt that increased density would bring greater congestion without the infrastructure to support it. One tenant said that offices would dominate the third story, spiking the rents and eventually ousting small businesses. Proponents of three stories welcomed the idea of hosting one unit of residential above two retail shops, and the increased foot traffic and nightlife that it would bring. The incentive to redevelop would also provide a face-lift to some of the decrepit buildings, they said.One business owner lamented the abruptness of the PDO amendment and the manner in which it was presented to the community. “The community was ambushed at the last minute,” architect David Raphael Singer said. “The amendments may be good or bad, but the community has not had the opportunity to give appropriate input or revision.”Promote La Jolla (PLJ), the Business Improvement District (BID) for the area, needs to be more active in seeking feedback from small business owners, who don’t have the time to stay informed, said Corrine Chessick, who sells high-end women’s clothing on Girard Avenue. Chessick has owned or managed a business in La Jolla for the past 17 years. “They need to send out fliers to us,” Chessick said. “They’re hiding it from us.” Chessick later added that three-story buildings mean another level of offices, and that property values would increase and force out small businesses. “We lose what the center of La Jolla is really about,” Chessick said. “We lose the tourists; they don’t want to see offices.”Sheila Combe, owner of Bowers Jewelers, reflected Chessick’s sentiment that business owners are too busy to follow local politics. “I’m sure I would have an opinion if it was brought to us and we sat down to discuss it, but no one has come to us,” Combe said. “Very few of us own the buildings so we don’t have much say.”Without much information, some business owners responded from their gut reaction. “My instinct would be to do the best we can to keep the charm and not over-build,” said Bill White, owner of the Ascot Shop, who added that he respects property rights, progress and needs more time to study the issue. “Overkill” is the word used to describe the third-story proposal by Chris Gonzalez, who manages Rangoni Firenze on Girard Avenue. “I’ve lived in San Diego all my life and I’ve seen everything getting overbuilt,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t want La Jolla to look like that.” Tony Barnugcia, owner of Dick’s Liquor on Pearl Street, sided with residents on matter of principle. “I’d prefer to do what the people want,” Barnugcia said. “The businesses only care about one thing: their own pocket. Most business owners don’t live in La Jolla.” The two property owners interviewed favored three stories throughout La Jolla, but also expressed reservations about the proposal. “Why not live within the means of the building plan to get the max out of it?” property owner Peter Wagener asked. “There’s nothing wrong with that. The BID is so small; why not give it the potential to grow to what it can be?” Property owner Bill Berkley agreed that one level of residential above two levels of retail would be optimal. The investment would also generate more attractive buildings, he said. Berkley owns the Wall Street Plaza that includes Jack’s Restaurant.Berkley added a spin to the conversation. Three-story buildings cannot be built within the 30-foot height limit, he said. Developers would have to add six to ten more feet to make it feasible. “You can’t get the sprinklers, plumbing and electrical in the space necessary to create three rentable floors,” Berkley said. “The ceiling would be so low as not to be rentable if the building is limited to 30 feet.” Both property owners emphasized that developers should be required to provide parking.As for those who will profit from the third-story proposal, “the property owners who have businesses will benefit, as well as the architects who are pushing this because it’s their livelihood to build,” said one property owner, who did not want his name used. Meanwhile, PLJ has claimed in community meetings that merchants favor the third-story proposal in order to keep people in La Jolla past 5 p.m. when offices close. PLJ represents businesses from the beginning of Prospect Street to the Taco Bell on La Jolla Boulevard. “I’ve been involved with Promote La Jolla for seven or eight years myself and this is something I’ve heard off and on for at least that long, if not longer,” PLJ President Deborah Marengo said. “Of course we have a large amount of tourism, but during most times, certain days of the week and different times of the season, we really don’t have a large amount of people frequenting the village because the village really doesn’t have a large amount of people who live in the village,” she later said. PLJ hasn’t stated that three stories are necessarily right for the village, but the community hasn’t reached a point where it can properly discuss the details of the proposal, she said.”We may end up finding out at the end of the day that maybe it doesn’t work for the community, but I don’t think we’ve had that discussion yet,” Marengo said. Residents, largely from Bird Rock, have attended meetings en masse to protest the three-story proposal, and have even organized into a “No-Third-Story” entity, complete with signs, petitions and a Web site, www.nothirdstory.org. Residents predict that three stories will increase parking and density, create monolithic buildings, reduce privacy for abutting homes on La Jolla Boulevard and equal more construction and skyrocketing rents as property owners redevelop. Many residents also link their fear of three stories to the dominating SeaHaus condominium project that has become a symbol of negative development with the potential to ruin the quaintness of the boulevard.Local architect Joe La Cava has also indicated that three stories would diminish ceilings to 9 feet tall, which is not conducive for retail. While the Village News walked the village, three La Jollans overhead conversations with business owners and adamantly injected that they oppose the third-story proposal.La Jolla has 34 amendments pending before the city to update its PDO. District 1 City Councilman Scott Peters gave Bird Rock until the beginning of 2006 to submit its own PDO changes, which have been delayed by last-minute proposals. The PDO will proceed through the city’s development services department, planning department, the coastal commission and city council, which will make the final decision.