La Jolla permit reviewers praised the design of the new build but asked for renderings on a proposed curb and gutter design.
A proposed new home in La Jolla Mesa will return to the La Jolla Development Permit Review committee with further details about a plan to add curb and gutter to the frontage.
The project came before committee members April 8, with applicant representative and architect Tim Martin laying out the plans to demolish an existing 3,881 square-foot one-story single dwelling unit with a detached garage and existing pool and hardscape at 6135 La Jolla Mesa Drive and construct a new 8,266 square-foot two-story single dwelling unit with an attached three-car garage, a new pool, spa and landscape.
The 0.94-acre triangular site is “relatively level,” Martin said, with more of the back corner sloped than is apparent from a street view.
The new home will have a 25-foot front yard setback. The two side setbacks are about 18 and 28 feet.
The project will also establish two curb cuts for resident and guest parking, build a small retaining wall and switch the pool from the rear yard to the street-facing side.
City of San Diego staff has indicated Martin must add a curb, gutter and sidewalk to the 300-foot frontage to widen the street, Martin said.
Meeting that requirement, however, will mean removing the large stand of eucalyptus trees along La Jolla Mesa Drive, he said. “We’ve been trying to preserve them because we thought they were community character defining.”
Martin said as there are no sidewalks on this side of the road in a six-block area, he would not be putting in a sidewalk but would widen the street by about four feet to add in a curb and gutter, eliminate the trees and landscape the rest.
“I would vote for keeping the trees if they’re healthy,” DPR trustee Diane Kane said, adding it doesn’t make sense to take trees out given the city’s Climate Action Plan, which includes planting more trees.
Kane suggested moving the street’s center line to widen the road.
“Those are all options we can make as recommendations to the city,” said DPR Chair Brian Will.
Committee members asked Martin to return at a future meeting with detailed renderings of what the added curb and gutter would look like, along with how the frontage landscaping would coordinate with the rest of the neighborhood.
“It’s a beautiful house, … exceptional looking,” DPR trustee John Fremdling said.
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