The third in this lajolla.ca series catalogues various sentiments surrounding adding more housing density to La Jolla.
Welcome to the next in “In the zone,” a lajolla.ca series that dives into the broad range of topics concerning housing density in La Jolla, with voices including proponents and critics and more.
Even as the city of San Diego has identified and is addressing a housing shortage and the state has chimed in with housing density-encouraging incentives of its own, strong opinions remain.
Projects that qualify for density bonuses and come before La Jolla permit review groups and the La Jolla Community Planning Association are met with both support and opposition, though most achieve approval.
Adelante Townhomes/Rendering courtesy of Murfey Company
The Adelante Townhomes project in Bird Rock, in development since 2022, met with harsh community member criticism over its designs for a 13-unit building (one of which will be very low income) and an initial waiver of the retail space requirement, which was later added in to address community members’ requests.
The project was eventually approved by the city, despite appeals the added commercial space was not enough.
A plan to build nine units on the former Su Casa site received approval last year, with each of the units including a basement that can be converted to an ADUs to satisfy a city request for more housing density on the land.
Despite the approval, La Jolla reviewers wondered why there weren’t more units planned for the site and lamented the lack of affordable units, which the developer said would be constructed off-site in accordance with San Diego regulations.
Progress and pushback
When lajolla.ca reports on housing density and new projects, responses on Nextdoor and Instagram generally lament the advancement of density, citing a loss of charm, traffic frustrations and much more with very little praise.
Opposition to local projects that increase density seems to stem from a tension that exists between “part of this community that would like [La Jolla] to remain frozen in time and never change,” La Jolla Development Permit reviewer Greg Jackson said during the Nov 10 Su Casa presentation, “and [those] who would like to make sure it continues to evolve with the evolving needs of the town.”
Others characterize objections as less “NIMBY (Not in My Backyard)” and more desirous of methodical planning that accounts for infrastructure improvements concurrent with housing development.
Some, like preservationist David Goldberg, advocate for housing density while acknowledging some projects erode individuals’ financial planning:
Residents who bought a single-family home purposefully in a specific zone but now face multi-unit construction made “long term financial commitment,” for which there should be some sort of quid pro quo, he said.
Goldberg also concedes, however, that “things change over time” and that the search for affordable housing is “frustrating. The days of living cheaply in San Diego and La Jolla are over.”
Often, concerns about parking, traffic and a shift in community character are surface-level pretexts for a deeper resistance to change, said La Jollan and La Jolla Community Planning Association member Harry Bubbins.
Parking objections to projects within a “transit priority area,” within a half mile of a public transit stop reveal “an attitude where people with three-car garages feel entitled to the public curb as personal storage,” Bubbins said.
Such opposition can also ring elitist, he said. “There’s a profound irony in enjoying a vibrant, serviced community while opposing homes for the people who make it run,” adding the community character people lament losing is “often just the character of exclusion.
Chipping away at misconceptions
Whatever the nature of the opinions on housing density, misconceptions abound. A numbers reminder:
La Jolla’s median household income is $147,230, according to 2024 United States Census Bureau data, while the city of San Diego’s median household income of $111,392; comparing these numbers, La Jolla’s reputation as a wealthy enclave holds.
Within the La Jolla Community Plan area, there are 15,308 total housing units, according to Census numbers: 11,181 are single dwelling units and 4,127 multiple dwelling units; La Jolla is not entirely a community of single-family mansions.
In fact, many areas of The Village are zoned for more units than are built on the land – and there’s a need for that density, according to the community plan
“Given that La Jolla has a significant number of retail job opportunities, an increase in residential density for affordable housing is desirable in order to provide an opportunity for these employees to live in the same community in which they work,” the plan states.
La Jolla is making strides toward increasing density – and improving attitudes, according to LJCPA President and La Jolla architect Lisa Kriedeman.
“A lot of what gets the storyline is the monstrosities,” she said. “Unfortunately, that’s what causes people to get scared and go, ‘not in my backyard.’”
However, “successful” projects like the Girard Lofts, 801 Pearl and Adelante, Kreideman said, show “there are really good ways” that up the housing density for La Jolla, placing units within walking distance of stores and restaurants while respecting the character of a neighborhood.
As Girard Lofts and 801 Pearl are recently-built luxury apartments, they won’t contribute to affordable housing but they do demonstrate the feasibility of adding more multi-unit buildings.
Add that to constant news of San Diego’s affordability crisis, those resistant to housing-dense projects in La Jolla are becoming “more open,” Kreideman, witnessing their children and others unable to live comfortably.
There’s more of a sense of “we all really need to pitch in together and … be creative about it, because it can all be done well,” she said.
Ridge Walk North Living and Learning Neighborhood, UCSD
For further examples of affordable housing done well, Kriedeman points to La Jolla behemoth UC San Diego, which has opened, is constructing or has planned several high-rise residential towers to meet an ever-growing need for beds on campus.
UCSD often faces criticisms for its residential expansion but “let’s face it,” Kreideman said. “if they’re providing all that student housing, that’s housing on campus that isn’t otherwise being taken” in La Jolla and surrounding communities.
“Let them build up as many units there that they want,” she said, “because, in theory, that frees up other things.”
La Jollan Diane Kane, president of the Association for the City of La Jolla, the group currently trying for La Jolla’s breakaway from San Diego, welcomes the density.
“I would love the students to be able to live here. I would like to get more families here,” said Kane, also former president of LJCPA and a historian.
“Projects like Adelante Townhomes are exactly what La Jolla needs — local developments that offer homeownership and affordability,” Bubbins said.
Resistance, he added, is disappointing. “We must recognize that opposing every new home, from a backyard unit to a veteran’s development, deepens our housing shortage.”
Future installments will dig into infrastructure concerns and more. To read the previous installments of “In the zone,” click below:
