The proposal passes Shores permit review, despite lingering neighbor concerns.
On its third pass, a project to subdivide and redevelop a La Jolla Shores property received unanimous La Jolla Shores Permit Review approval Nov 21, though neighbors’ concerns about noise and more persist.
The proposal for the Cielo Mar development would subdivide the 4.45-acre lot at 8303 La Jolla Shores Drive into six parcels and build a home on each.
Image courtesy of Dickinson Clark
The single existing house and garage would be demolished, and a private road would be constructed to serve the six single-family homes, each of which already has an owner who intends to occupy the home.
The six lots will range from 20,737 to 31,488 square feet, with the homes proposed from 9,068 to 14,332 square feet; the sixth lot will also have a 1,200 square-foot accessory dwelling unit.
All structures will be under the 30-foot height limit and current floor-to-lot area ratio (FAR) and exceed requirements to have 30 percent of the lot landscaped.
In August, PRC members asked architect and applicant Andy Fotsch – who chairs PRC but recused himself from leading the discussion and voting – to return with information about five concerns: Effective drainage; HVAC noise mitigation; privacy of the windows on Lot 3; basement square footage; and solar panel placement.
“The discussion today will be limited to those items only,” said PRC member Janie Emerson, acting as chair for the discussion.
Calle Frescota, to the north and east of Cielo Mar, will have both an underground sewer line and an underground storm drain, Fotsch said. Two bio basins will catch extra runoff from the lots and a concrete drainage culvert; any overflow from the bio basins goes into the underground storm drain.
To mitigate noise from HVAC equipment, all the HVAC units for Cielo Mar will be surrounded by stucco walls four to five feet high, Fotsch said.
Fotsch has also reduced the size of the windows on Lot 3 that might infringe on neighbors’ privacy, he said, though fire standards require a certain size for emergency evacuation.
“I’ve done the best I can on these windows here to meet those egress requirements,” Fotsch said.
And though basement square footage is “an irrelevant number” not included in FAR calculations, he said, he explained the basement sizes range from 202 to 3,427 square feet, with Lot 1 having no basement.
He also demonstrated solar panel placement, adding “solar is something that’s a deferred submittal to the city, so it’s not even part of the building permit.”
A few neighbors reiterated strong objections during public comment to noise from people using the planned pools, distances from the new yards to existing residents’ bedrooms and whether grading requirements meet the La Jolla Shores plan requirements.
Noise concerns are “outside the purview of this committee,” Emerson said, adding a reminder that “the discussion and concerns needed to pertain to the items requested in August.”
Emerson further responded to those who said the item has not been properly reviewed that the project is now on its third public PRC pass.
Several PRC members expressed support for the designs before moving to approve the project.
The Cielo Mar proposal will next be forwarded to the La Jolla Community Planning Association.
© lajolla.ca
