Plans for 6,292-square-foot La Jolla Shores home cleared by San Diego hearing officer

A project for La Jolla Shores that narrowly got support from local planning groups had a slightly easier time when it went before a San Diego hearing officer.

During a Dec. 17 meeting, hearing officer Antoinette Gibbs approved a plan to demolish a 2,740-square-foot one-story house with a 560-square-foot detached garage and build a new 6,292-square-foot house at 8383 La Jolla Scenic Drive North. Other details include a 505-square-foot attached two-car garage, an 843-square-foot detached accessory dwelling unit and a 227-square-foot junior accessory dwelling unit. The property abuts a sloping canyon. 

The La Jolla Shores Planned District Advisory Board approved the project in January on a vote of 4-2, with conditions. In June, the La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee gave its approval on a 3-2 vote, without conditions.

The proposal was then approved by the La Jolla Community Planning Association on its consent agenda, meaning there was no presentation or discussion. 

At Gibbs’ hearing, city project manager Hector Rios focused on drainage concerns, saying the property would “enhance drainage toward the curb outlet” and that a portion of the rear yard would drain into a ditch.

“However, the initial assessment suggests the volume released to the existing drainage ditch will be less than [the property] is currently experiencing,” he said. 

But some nearby residents were not convinced. 

Neighbor Jerry Phelps, who has lived in La Jolla for 25 years, said “We have seen situations in which the water ends up going places where it wasn’t intended” and that he is “very concerned that stormwater will also go to the east and may destabilize the slope.” 

He added that with the planned project being larger than what is currently there, more water runoff is likely.

“We want to make sure everything is done appropriately,” Phelps said. 

Neighbor Ebrahim Amiri said that if water runs off to the slope and the slope fails, it would likely collapse onto his property, which is down the hill from the proposed development.

Though he said he didn’t oppose the project itself, “the slope is very steep … so I’m very concerned about this development.”

“I just want to make sure the drainage doesn’t go into properties down the hill and the hill won’t be [destabilized],” Amiri said.

Members of the applicant team defended the drainage plan and reiterated that there would be less runoff with the planned development than there is now. Others said standard city reviews are underway to ensure the slope remains stable. 

Gibbs said she could make all the findings necessary to approve the project. 

Other La Jolla projects

Two other La Jolla proposals were approved on Gibbs’ consent agenda without presentation or discussion. 

One aims to amend an existing permit to dismantle a one-story, 833-square-foot historically designated house at 7991 Prospect Place and reconstruct and rehabilitate the residence, porch and stairs in accord with rehabilitation guidelines of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. 

The original permit was approved by a hearing officer in 2017, but as part of the work, partial demolition was done that was not allowed. Thus, the permit needed to be amended to retroactively allow that work and permit the applicant to rebuild the house per the secretary of interior’s standards. 

The other project is an ongoing effort to widen the sidewalk next to Scripps Park. It would remove about 450 linear feet of the 5-foot-wide concrete sidewalk adjacent to Coast Boulevard and install a new 10-foot-wide concrete sidewalk as a replacement. The plan also includes minor grading as needed and relocation of irrigation.

The project has been anticipated for three years. In 2022 and ’23, the La Jolla Community Planning Association, La Jolla Shores Association, Bird Rock Community Council and La Jolla Parks & Beaches produced lists of capital improvement requests for the coming year, with the sidewalk project at the top both years. 

In 2024, San Diego allocated $750,000 to draft a plan to widen the sidewalk.

Gibbs’ decisions to approve all the projects are considered final unless appealed to the San Diego Planning Commission.