The home’s large floor-to-area ratio has drawn objections, though others have noted other homes in proximity are similar in size.
Designs to demolish a home at 1835 Spindrift Drive in La Jolla and replace it with a larger residence earned recommendation from the La Jolla Community Planning Association Sept 4, despite two other La Jolla groups’ earlier rejection of the plans.
The project would demolish the existing 3,214-square-foot, three-story house and construct a two-story, 6,085-square-foot single-family residence with pool, spa and 4,254-square-foot basement that includes an accessory dwelling unit, along with a six-car garage and other spaces on a 0.16-acre site in La Jolla Shores.
The La Jolla Shores Planned District Advisory Board and La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee each unanimously denied the project in June and July, respectively, citing a too-large floor-to-area ratio, bulk and scale and other objections.
Rendering by Safdie Rabines Architects
Since those meetings, the design team at Safdie Rabines Architects has modified the plan by pushing the house back from the street; increasing the basement setback toward the eastern neighbors; increasing landscape across the entire site; relocating the elevator tower within the house footprint; among other edits.
The home, however, still does not comply with the La Jolla Shores design manual when interpreting the La Jolla Shores Planned District Ordinance, said attorney Julie Hamilton, representing Spindrift neighbors who oppose the construction.
Hamilton cited setback measurements, an FAR that exceeds the allowable 0.57 and features like the retaining wall along the front in her argument that the committees’ denial be upheld.
“Obviously, [the home] doesn’t complement and it doesn’t blend with the other structures in the neighborhood,” she said.
Even ignoring the size of the ADU, which is in the basement (basement size is typically excluded from FAR), the home is “simply too big for the project site,” Hamilton said.
The FAR at 0.77 is allowed, said architect Taal Safdie, as the plans were submitted to the city of San Diego before there was a codified maximum FAR.
Further, she said, the adjacent house was approved at a 0.79 FAR and the various styles and features of nearby homes gave the design team “a leeway to do very many different things. There wasn’t really one significant style in the neighborhood.”
LJCPA President Lisa Kriedeman confirmed there are homes in the area that exceed the allowable FAR.
The FAR was not a bother for LJCPA trustee Glen Rasmussen, though he is “concerned about neighborhood character,” he said.
“We are trying very hard to make the overall public feeling of the house feel airy and light,” Safdie said.
A motion to recommend approval of the project passed 11-5, with Krideman customarily abstaining.
