The proposal to build a new residence on a vacant lot with a city property vacation met with doubt and concern after receiving permit reviewer OK.

The La Jolla Community Planning Association postponed a vote at its Oct 2 meeting on a project that would incorporate excess city of San Diego property to build a new home at 1510 Soledad Ave, convening instead a group to work on a more collaborative solution for the city land.

Drawing by Island Architects

The proposal, which would construct a new, 4,494-square-foot, two-story single dwelling unit with 1,205-square-foot basement and an attached, 780-square-foot, two-story accessory dwelling unit on a vacant lot located east of Cowrie and Soledad avenues, received approval from the La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee in September.

The project required full LJCPA review based on its application for a vacation, or when the city relinquishes property to an adjacent property owner, of the nearly 4,000 square feet of space originally intended for street purposes.

The new, Spanish-style home would extend the property line into the vacation, taking up 40% of the vacated land, and add a sidewalk along Soledad Avenue.

The remainder of the city right-of-way, a triangle-tipped dirt lot measuring approximately 50 linear feet of flat area, would become a green space open to the public but landscaped and maintained at the owner’s expense, applicant representatives Haley Duke and Patrick Vercio of Island Architects said.

The plans “create the best possible use for” the public land, Duke said, calling the landscaped garden space “a real asset to the community.”

Duke noted the space wouldn’t be an official park but a “nicely landscaped public right-of-way.” 

Property neighbor Jim Mittermiller reiterated previous opposition to the project, having said at DPR Sept 16 and La Jolla Parks & Beaches Sept 30 he’d wanted the city land to become a pocket park, as Soledad Avenue is narrow and dangerous at times for pedestrians. 

Mittermiller also said there was little community notice and he took issue with the applicant taking ownership of public property.

After hearing Mittermiller’s concerns during a lengthy discussion, LJP&B voted unanimously Sept 30 to oppose the project’s vacation and to ask the city to convert the area into a pocket park for the community. 

“This is public land that should be a public park,” Mittermiller said at CPA. 

“The community sentiment here should be of importance to you,” former CPA President Diane Kane said to Duke and Vercio, “because this is publicly-purposed land.”

Kane referenced the city’s Parks Master Plan, one aim of which is to “repurpose appropriate rights-of-way to serve as active transportation connections with integrated recreational amenities, shade and features that encourage walking and biking.”

Other neighbors raised concerns about drainage, noting the city sewer maintenance in the area isn’t enough to keep runoff away from homeowner property.

At DPR, Duke and Vercio had detailed the applicant’s plans to reroute a drain that currently runs under the property around the new build to address those issues.

“Part of the entitlement process is to show how the drainage is collected and conveyed,” Duke said at CPA, noting one of the various engineering solutions to improve the existing conditions will be implemented.

Drainage concerns persisted, however: “The community would benefit from the fact that we do not give this land for private development,” La Jolla resident Kathleen Neil said. “If you give more property to the development of a house on a place where there isn’t a house, you increase the stormwater runoff.”

Some spoke in favor of the vacation and landscaping, noting that DPR approved the plans and the land has stood as a dirt lot for some time.

“This has been a dust bowl for decades,” CPA trustee Harry Bubbins said, praising the applicants’ proactivity in wanting to transform the space into housing and public green space with a sidewalk.

CPA trustee Brian Will added the city may not even be willing or able to convert the right-of-way into a park.

“If there were the will and the resources and all of that to make a park there, why hasn’t it happened? And what’s different now?” asked trustee Greg Jackson.

CPA trustee Patrick Ahern moved to postpone a vote on the proposed project and convene a group to work with the applications to put forth alternative, detailed plans for the right-of-way. 

The group would present those solutions within 30 days; Duke and Vercio said they would be willing to work with the group.

The motion passed 9-3-1, with Jackson abstaining as acting CPA chair.