Close to 80 people voted Tuesday, March 20, against Bird Rock’s form-based code (FBC) proposal and instead indicated interest in implementing a series of amendments proposed more than a year ago for the planned district ordinance (PDO).
More than 50 people from Bird Rock and greater La Jolla voted in opposition to the FBC and a majority of those residents ” about 43 ” were in favor of incorporating the Bird Rock 12 amendments to the PDO, according to voting results posted on the Bird Rock Community Council’s Web site, www.birdrock.org.
“It was important to find out, on the record, that there are more people who oppose the form-based code than think it’s grand,” said Darcy Ashley, a Bird Rock Community Council member and resident. “At some point we needed to see whether the form-based code resonated with the community and it didn’t.”
Bird Rock’s form-based code, or a building plan based on community input that would apply to a three-block radius along La Jolla Boulevard, was created in 2006 as a response to architects Michael Morton and Mark Lyon’s proposal to increase floor-area ratio and include three-story buildings in Bird Rock’s PDO.
The proposal was met with significant opposition from residents, so District 1 Councilman and Council President Scott Peters appointed design consultants Howard Blackson and Michael Stepner to design a plan for Bird Rock that would reflect the community’s needs.
Tuesday’s meeting was a culmination of four open forums held in February, as a result of residents’ requests for additional time to review the document.
About 66 people at the meeting were Bird Rock residents and most had attended previous FBC meetings, Ashley said. Two votes were taken, to reflect the opinions of Bird Rock residents and of those who do not live in Bird Rock, and both opposed the FBC.
Bird Rock Community Council, which has been involved in organizing informational meetings and presentations by the consultants on the FBC, will now have to reevaluate a new plan for the community’s PDO, Ashley said.
The Bird Rock 12 amendments have similar components to the FBC but are not as aggressive or controversial as the consultants’ plan, Ashley said.
The amendments banned the use of first floor step-downs, or buildings that have lowered entrances so that developers could construct three-story structures in 30-foot-height limit zones, and provided additional setbacks in alleys to mediate between commercial and residential buildings, Ashley said.
Both the step-down ban and additional setbacks were part of the FBC but can also be done under the amendments, she said.
Stepner and Blackson were contracted by the city’s District 1 office and any further decisions concerning Bird Rock’s form-based code will come from city officials, according to Ashley.