Plans to build a three-story project along La Jolla Boulevard, called “Bird Rock Station,” have been stalled since a superior court judge upheld his tentative ruling that it’s plausible the project will have a significant effect on the environment. La Jollans balked at developer Michael Krambs’ plans to skirt the village’s Planned District Ordinance (PDO), which only permits two-story buildings along La Jolla Boulevard, to erect a three-story building with retail space on the bottom and 11 condominiums on the second and third floors. La Jollans formed the La Jolla Village Residents Association in 2008 to sue the city for approving the project without requiring the developer to conduct a full environmental review and produce an environmental impact report (EIR). Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Prager agreed with the petitioners. “If there is substantial evidence in the whole record supporting a fair argument that a project may have a significant non-mitigable effect on the environment, the lead agency shall prepare an EIR, even though it may also be presented with other substantial evidence that title project will not have a significant effect,” Prager wrote in his tentative ruling. The city and developer had argued the project did not require an EIR because it had received a deviation from the PDO, which the city’s municipal code permits if the Planning Commission finds it “will result in a more desirable project than would be achieved if designed in strict conformance with the development regulations of the applicable zone,” according to San Diego’s Municipal Code. Krambs and RK Development Partners have not yet decided whether to appeal the ruling and are “considering all their options,” according to their attorney, Christopher R. Mordy, with Peterson & Price. The petitioners had argued that permitting a developer to construct a three-story building would set a precedent for developers to build three-story buildings throughout La Jolla, which is presently only permitted in certain commercial pockets. Also, neighbors’ privacy would be disturbed since the three-story units would begin at 20 feet high rather than 15 feet high with two-story developments in the area. “The current PDO has protected La Jolla from overdevelopment and makes it the desirable place we have today,” states the No Third Story website. “Allowing three stories would increase the population density and change our town forever.” For more information about the lawsuit, visit www.nothirdstory.org.