North University City has 95 percent build-out. Many argue that its major roadways, especially Genesee Avenue and La Jolla Village Drive, cannot withstand the addition of a single vehicle.
Those are just a few of the reasons residents at the July 10 University Community Planning Group meeting said the community should reject the proposed revised Monte Verde project, which calls for one 23-story, two 22-story and one 21-story towers on a 4.6-acre parcel at the corner of La Jolla Village Drive and Genesee Avenue. The group voted 7-3 to recommend that City Council not approve the revised project.
“You want to benefit this community?” asked Linda Colley, UCPG chairwoman. “Donate $1 million to the library; give $2 million to the rec center; buy the $1.2 million property at the end of Eastgate Mall and make it into a public park. Over the last 25 years, the development in this community has not been concurrent with the facilities that should have been provided. When I die, I want there to be some green open space left for my children and grandchildren.”
The initial Monte Verde project, which called for two 32-story towers and two 35-story towers, was rejected in March by the city’s Planning Commission, which voted 4-1 to recommend a reduced height alternative to City Council and stated that the overriding considerations and project benefits did not outweigh the significant impacts to community character.
A presentation of the revised project plans outlined 560 residential units as opposed to the original request for 800, according to Stuart Posnack, representative for Garden Communities, the New Jersey-based company proposing Monte Verde.
Construction of a pedestrian bridge over Genesee Avenue is one of the project benefits Posnack and his team listed, as well as helping to fund a new fire station in south University City and replacing a 5,000-foot stretch of sewer piping.
But an organized resident group, headed up by Deborah Knight and Charles Pratt, disagreed with the project benefits, arguing that the pedestrian bridge was part of the Costa Verde specific plan and should have been built more than a decade ago. Knight also asserted the community already had enough money in its facilities benefits assessments (FBA) account to fund a fire station.
“This project looks like a piece of downtown carved out and plunked down on the corner,” Knight said.
In other business, UCPG heard from 50 residents from University City Village, an independent-living senior retirement facility, about a construction project that would more than double the number of units in the development.
Project permits appear to have been issued to property owners and construction begun before a required sewer system update was completed, said Loretta Spano, president of the UC Village resident coalition. Colley, who recently visited the village and looked into the issue, requested additional information on the project from manager Tim Daly of the city’s Development Services Department (DSD). Officials from DSD were scheduled to answer questions at Tuesday’s meeting but were not present.
Colley encouraged residents to contact the owners of UC Village and request additional information about the project.
UCPG meets the first Tuesday of every month above the Wells Fargo bank in Westfield UTC shopping center, 4545 La Jolla Village Drive, in Forum Hall.
For more information, visit uc-planning-group.com/ucpg.html.