After postponing the vote for uncertainty about use of vacated city land, the La Jolla community group agreed to a public park space with the home.
The La Jolla Community Planning Association gave its approval Nov 6 for a project to build a new home at 1510 Soledad Ave, using much of a vacation of excess city of San Diego property to create a public park space at the owner’s expense.
The approval came about one month after the association postponed a vote due to residents’ objections over the original plans for the vacation, or city relinquishment of land to an adjacent property owner, of the nearly 4,000 square feet of space originally intended for street purposes.
The project’s home will be a new 4,494-square-foot, two-story single dwelling unit with a 1,205-square-foot basement and attached 780-square-foot, two-story accessory dwelling unit.
About 2,100 square feet of the vacated land, currently a dirt lot at the intersection of Cowrie and Soledad avenues, will now become park space, landscaped with benches installed, for public use, project architect Haley Duke said Nov 6.
The plans as presented in October included some park space, but property neighbor Jim Mittermiller had raised concerns at various community group meetings that he’d wanted the city land to become a pocket park, as Soledad Avenue is narrow and dangerous at times for pedestrians.
LJCPA agreed in October to convene a working group with the project architects and La Jolla community members to collaborate on an improved solution for the vacated land.
The resultant proposal “had unanimous approval” of all working group members, LJCPA trustee and working group member Patrick Ahern said.
The updated plans will also relocate the driveway access from Soledad Avenue onto Cowrie, Duke said, to prevent interruptions to a new sidewalk on Soledad.
There will now also be street improvements, creating a sort of alley or lane along Cowrie Avenue that will result in “more usable space” for the park, she said.
The park plans also call for a “clear delineation between the public and private zones,” Duke said, with a difference in grading and a wall to indicate where the park space begins.
The property owner at 1510 Soledad will be responsible for funding the public park construction and maintenance, Ahern said.
“The owner fully supports this,” Duke added.
“I think this proposal is a win-win proposition,” Mittermiller said.
The motion to pass the amended plans passed with no opposition.
