Members of the Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB) reached a consensus that the summit of La Crescentia Drive, a windy, narrow road with an abundance of trees in the La Playa neighborhood that was once the home of jeweler and community leader Joseph Jessop Sr., is a less-than-ideal place to build new houses. The board voted 8-3 on Sept. 15 to recommend against a plan to reconfigure a 1.46-acre parcel at 414 La Crescentia Drive into three lots that would have paved the way for the construction of two new houses there. The parcel is the largest of the 17 on the street and still contains the 1920s-era former home of Jessop, who lived there until his death in 1996 at the age of 97. The proposal would have redrawn the subdivision map to place the Jessop home on its own half-acre lot but leave the building otherwise untouched. City staff determined the home has no historical significance, according to the applicant’s representative, Robert Furey of REC Consultants, Inc. The planning board, which is sanctioned by the city to gather citizen input on development projects and land use-related issues, heeded the testimony of several neighbors who were concerned about emergency-vehicle access and increased density. Mike Bolton of La Crescentia Drive said the area lacks a fire hydrant close enough to serve the property. “These homes are in a wooded section. There’s no way that area can be protected unless they bring in helicopters,” he said. Doug Holthaus, another La Crescentia Drive neighbor, said the road was too narrow and had too many switchbacks to allow easy access of a fire truck. “Our houses would be gone” if fire erupted there, he said. Furey said the owner had agreed to retrofit sprinklers to the Jessop home, even though it was not legally required. Anne Bolton said she wanted to avoid the repeat of a tragedy that occurred while she was principal of University City High School in which a student died in the weight room because help didn’t arrive in time. “Consider if it was your family at the top of that hill,” she said. Marcie Rothman, a neighbor from San Gorgonio Street, said such a building project also doesn’t fit the community vision. “This is a really special area. Its character should be preserved,” she said. In other news: • In her first meeting as acting chairwoman following the resignation of former chairman Suhail Khalil, First Vice Chair Helen Kinnaird made some suggestions ” … for the meetings to run smoother.” She called on board members to refrain from interrupting others, avoid being redundant and confine all comments to the issue at hand. She also vowed to give each board member a chance to speak once before allowing someone to speak a second time. She informally appointed board member Allen Jones to give guidance on parliamentary procedures and board members Geoff Page and Rebecca Michael as references for the group’s bylaws. • The board voted 9-1-2 in support of a 6,630-square-foot home on a vacant lot at 889 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. For more PCPB information, visit pcpb.net.
