La Jolla planners seek to define ‘major projects’ for automatic full reviews

The La Jolla Community Planning Association is looking to change how it reviews “major projects” — starting with defining what a major project is.

The LJCPA board agreed Aug. 7 to create a set of criteria for what constitutes a major project that automatically would be placed on a meeting agenda for a full review.

Typically, a project is reviewed by a committee and then proceeds to LJCPA for ratification or further discussion. In many cases, a project is placed on the consent agenda, which is approved as a slate without presentation or discussion. A project can be removed, or “pulled,” from the consent agenda for a full presentation at a later date.

However, LJCPA revised its bylaws last year to limit the grounds under which an item could be pulled, such as citing a section of building code that was not being followed.

As a result, President Lisa Kriedeman said, some projects did not qualify for a pull and therefore were not heard in full but were still of community interest.

“Something we have been talking about for a while is trying to find a way to get more projects heard,” she said.

Thus, the board sought to create criteria for what constitutes a major project.

The criteria are:

• If the project increases the scale of a property by 4,000 square feet or more or increases the number of units by two or more

• If the project requires waivers from San Diego building codes

• If the La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee or La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee deems the project as major based on comments

“If a project meets one of those conditions, then instead of going on the consent agenda, we would put it on the regular agenda,” LJCPA trustee Greg Jackson said. “It might check all the boxes [for the committees], but we ought to talk about it.”

In citing examples from developments previously reviewed, Jackson said a project on Encelia Drive that set out to demolish a 3,500-square-foot house and build one more than triple the size would qualify for an automatic full review under the new policy.

Similarly, a proposal like Adelante Townhomes in Bird Rock, which would demolish an office building on La Jolla Boulevard and replace it with a multi-story building with 13 townhouses and about 1,100 square feet of ground-floor retail space, also could qualify for automatic full review.

Because Adelante Townhomes includes a unit considered affordable for lower-income households, developer Murfey Co. requested a waiver of a requirement in the La Jolla Planned District Ordinance that 50% of ground-floor space in new developments be reserved for retail in Zone 4, which includes La Jolla Boulevard.

The San Diego City Council voted in January to uphold the city Planning Commission’s approval of the project and deny an appeal from area residents seeking to have it redesigned and reduced in size.

LJCPA voted twice in 2023 to support the Adelante proposal on full reviews.

Speaking in favor of LJCPA’s new policy for major projects, community member Sally Miller said having a codified system “takes the stigma away from pulling something [from the consent agenda]. It can seem like if a project is pulled, that something is ‘bad,’ but this automatically puts the projects to the community that need to be seen by the community.”

LJCPA trustee Brian Will, chairman of the DPR Committee, noted that some of the projects would “naturally” have a full hearing but said the new system “is a really good idea.”

Other LJCPA news

Shores house: After a lengthy debate, the board gave its support to a project that would demolish a 2,714-square-foot single-family home and replace it with a new 3,524-square-foot two-story residence at 8204 La Jolla Shores Drive.

During a hearing in March, members of the La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee said the proposal pushed the envelope too far with a floor area ratio, or FAR (the size of a building relative to its lot), of 0.58. A chimney on the roof would reach a height of 30 feet, while a parapet would stand 28 feet 6 inches and a skylight would be at 29 feet 1 inch.

Those are at or near the maximums allowed under The Shores’ FAR requirement and San Diego’s 30-foot coastal height limit.

In the months afterward, revisions were made to the design, including removing a roof deck to “allow for a sloping roof plane that ranges from one and a half to five feet lower … to ease the transition for the neighbor to the north,” said applicant representative Haley Duke of Island Architects.

Windows that would face a neighboring property also were removed, and the house was pulled slightly away from the street.

The PRC voted 3-2 in June to endorse the project.

However, there still were concerns about whether views would be impacted, whether a proposed 6-foot fence along Vallecitos was allowed, and whether the project’s bulk and scale were appropriate for the area.

All said, the LJCPA board voted 11-3 to support the plan.

Next meeting: The La Jolla Community Planning Association next meets at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, at the La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. The agenda will be posted 72 hours in advance at lajollacpa.org.