Less than a month after San Diego City Council voted 6-2 to deny an appeal of the environmental document for the Whitney mixed-use project in La Jolla Shores, opponents have filed a lawsuit attempting to block it. Extending nearly seven years of wrangling over whether the proposed development is too bulky and out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood, attorney Julie Hamilton filed a lawsuit Nov. 3 in San Diego Superior Court on behalf of a group known as La Jolla Shores Tomorrow The lawsuit challenges the project’s approved environmental documents as being inadequate and contends the project violates the Shores Planned Development Ordinance (PDO), the community’s development blueprint.
“The fact is this particular project is much larger than anything else that’s been built in this community,” said Hamilton, adding, “The whole point of the PDO was to retain the community’s small-town village character.”
Developers Bob and Kim Whitney want to demolish a pair of single-story buildings on a 0.09-acre lot at 2202 and 2206 Avenida de la Playa on the northeast corner of El Paseo Grande in the Shores commercial center and replace them with an 8,518-square-foot, three-story building with retail on the ground level and two condominiums above.
The Whitney project has been a bone of contention in La Jolla Shores since 2009. Some Shores residents contend the project is not only too massive and violates the Shores PDO but, if approved, would set an irrevocable precedent for other developers to follow.
Hamilton argued that the city-approved environmental document for the project is insufficient in numerous ways. Among them, she said, is lack of proper “visibility triangles” leading from the project’s proposed driveway, creating a safety hazard on Calle Clara, a disputed alley/street in the rear of the project site.
“The community as a whole who use Calle Clara for walking and riding bikes are very concerned about the size of the building and the safety hazard its lack of visibility triangles presents,” said Hamilton. “I’m challenging the environmental and discretionary approvals and other permitting for the project.”
“The City Council failed to consider the project along with its consideration of the (environmental impact report),” the lawsuit contends, “thereby foreclosing the City Council’s ability to reach its own conclusions concerning the contents of the EIR. The City Council heard the EIR without hearing the merits of the project and therefore did not have the ability to modify the project to avoid or lessen impacts.”
The lawsuit goes on to conclude that “The (project’s) EIR fails to include an accurate, stable and consistent description of the proposed project. … The analysis of land use impacts is inadequate and fails to properly identify significant impacts. … The project does not comply with the (Shores) PDO in that it severely contrasts with the surrounding neighborhood character … It is reasonably foreseeable that this project will have a cumulative effect on neighborhood character by allowing significantly larger buildings in the commercial center in the future.”
“The whole purpose of the lawsuit is to protect the character of the commercial center in La Jolla Shores,” said Hamilton. “It’s unfortunate that we had to come to this place. This is what had to be done. We strongly encourage Mr. Whitney to redesign the project in a manner in keeping with the character of the community so we can get out of this litigation.”
The Whitneys could not be reached for comment.