La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA) granted a time extension for the Cohen project in La Jolla Shores, as well as ruling that findings could be made to support two other residential redevelopments on Calle del Cielo and Bonair Street at its Sept. 5 monthly meeting.
The Cohen residence at 8130 La Jolla Shores Drive was seeking a three-year time extension for a permit to demolish an existing 1,690-square-foot single-family home and construct a new 3,842-square-foot residence with a 753-square-foot garage in its place on a 0.13-acre property.
An LJCPA subcommittee had previously voted that findings could not be made for granting a time extension for the project due to public safety concerns regarding the steepness of the home’s driveway and its impact on the adjacent sidewalk.
“I don’t see any basis for us to deny the extension of time. We’re not rearguing the project,” said trustee Jim Fitzgerald.
Trustee Phil Merten said public safety concerns are a viable reason for denying a time extension, adding that he felt the redevelopment project met all applicable municipal codes.
Trustee Gail Forbes pointed out the project’s location is of particular concern.
“There are no streets (other than La Jolla Shores Drive) with 60,000 cars a day,” Forbes said.
The motion to approve the time extension passed by a wide margin.
Regarding the Sudbury residence, planned demolition and replacement of an existing single-family home at 8053 Calle del Cielo, UC San Diego representative Anu Delouri read a letter from the university, which owns property adjacent to the project.
“UCSD is confident revised plans provide for minimum disruption and that a mutual agreement between the university and developers will be finalized in the future,” Delouri said.
LJCPA vice president Joe LaCava stepped down from his role as trustee to reintroduce a downscaled project calling for three separate condo residences sharing two driveways to be built at 754-758 Bonair St. where the street dead-ends.
Noting there is a “hopscotch of development” in the surrounding area, LaCava said the project’s height has been reduced from 30 to 25 feet and that three separate condo units would be built on site rather than grouping them all in one building in order to “replicate the appearance of single-family homes.”
Several trustees remarked they felt the revised project ought to go back to the subcommittee for reconsideration first. LaCava said he’d been told by the subcommittee chair that proposed project changes weren’t significant enough for it to be returned for reconsideration.
Trustee Fran Zimmerman said she felt the project would be “a very attractive addition to the neighborhood,” but added, “I worry about the cars.”
Trustee Tom Brady agreed, saying the proposed project “was an improvement over what’s there now.”
Trustee Ray Weiss said he was concerned that the review of the project was bypassing “due process” by not returning to the subcommittee for reconsideration.
“I don’t understand why the subcommittee was unwilling to see it again,” he said.
A motion that the redesigned project could now meet the findings for conforming with neighborhood character passed by a 10-4-1 margin.
The community advisory group also voted to have last year’s nine-item list of proposed community infrastructure improvements resubmitted for the city’s 2015 Public Infrastructure Budget. The list includes Coast Boulevard sidewalk improvements at Children’s Pool, Scripps Park restoration, enhancement of a walking path along Coast Boulevard and a parking feasibility study for Coast Walk.
Also included on this year’s CIP list were Torrey Pines Road corridor improvements phases 1-3, funding for the proposed Prospect Street Belvedere at Girard Avenue and a new sidewalk at Rock Park (La Jolla Hermosa Park) in Bird Rock.