The nine-unit, seven-ADU development with parking and one retail space has passed one La Jolla planning group with more presentations planned.
Bringing more housing to La Jolla, a project to subdivide the site of the former Su Casa restaurant in La Jolla has begun making the rounds at La Jolla planning groups, with 16 residential units planned.
The Su Casa Residences – named for the beloved La Jolla Mexican restaurant that closed in 2019 and was bulldozed in 2022 – will subdivide two parcels into nine lots to construct eight single dwelling units with seven accessory dwelling units and one mixed-use residential building with one dwelling unit and 801 square feet of retail space at 350 Playa Del Sur and 6738 La Jolla Blvd.
“This community has been really primarily single family detached homes,” project applicant and architect Doug Austin of AVRP studios said Nov 10 at the La Jolla Planned District Ordinance meeting.
“This fits the neighborhood.”
The La Jolla PDO voted unanimously to approve lot nine, which holds the mixed-use retail and residential unit; Lot nine is the only portion of the project under the PDO purview as the other eight lots are outside the PDO zone.
At the La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee meeting a day later, Nov 11, the trustees asked Austin and his team to return with specific details about each particular unit, landscaping and more.
The Project
AVRP studios
The drawings now are an amendment to the original plan for the land, designed by another company to be attached units.
Most of the nine detached units now presented have basements that can be converted to ADUs if wanted, Austin said Nov 11, in response to a city of San Diego request for more housing density on the land, to address a regional housing shortage.
The mixed-use building will front La Jolla Boulevard, with the commercial space on the first floor and residential above it.
Including the retail space also “ticks a box” for city requirements, Austin said Nov 10; when PDO members noted there isn’t much parking for the space, Austin conceded “it’s not the best site for retail.”
All the lots will include a mix of contemporary architecture with designs reminiscent of renowned, early La Jolla architect Irving J Gill.
“I’m a fan of Irving Gill,” Austin said Nov 10, noting the arches that front the retail space.
The design maintains a “simple palette,” Austin added, “following the idea that you keep the architecture simple and decorate with nature.”
Each unit will have a private garage, with most garage entrances located on Playa del Norte and two of the garage entrances on Playa del Sur.
The project will add a new, wide sidewalk all around the development with trees according to city standards.
The concerns
Members of both PDO and DPR raised concerns about potential flooding and the lack of affordable housing.
PDO members noted there is a known issue with water flooding basements in the immediate vicinity, due to a sewer line underneath the properties and the use of water tables to divert groundwater away in the area.
With the ADUs planned for the units’ basements, both DPR and PDO attendees emphasized the need for detailed designs for water management.
The project team acknowledged the concern and promised to return with geotechnical and storm water management plans at the next DPR meeting.
Some trustees wondered why there were only nine units and the possibility for seven ADUs included in the plans.
“It’s the kind of site where one could have built a much denser development,” DPR trustee Greg Jackson said Nov 11.
“I can understand why an applicant would try to build something more consistent with how the rest of the streets are, and I sort of applaud that. But at the same time, I’m curious about … what other kinds of density options the applicant thought about,” he said.
The project will include 10% of affordable housing off site, Austin replied. The off-site location is yet to be determined, but must be in “another high-resource area.”
The Su Casa residences, he added, will be “pretty expensive.”
“The client is very conscious of building a project that fits within the community, but they are also conscious of the affordable housing portion requirements and … needs in California,” project senior architect Valentina Castilla said.
“One of the difficulties with La Jolla is there is a part of this community that would like it to remain frozen in time and never change,” Jackson said, “and then there are others of us … who would like to make sure it continues to evolve with the evolving needs of the town.”
This tension largely reveals itself as an argument about density, Jackson added.
The project was listed as a preliminary review on DPR’s agenda. Trustees asked Austin, Castilla and other team members to return with information on each of the lots including floor area and number of stories; an updated landscape plan with hardscape details; information about the side yard setbacks between the units including HVAC placement; and a storm water management plan.
