La Jolla Shores permit reviewers back three home projects

The La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee approved all three home projects that went before it at its May 18 meeting.

8025 Calle del Cielo: The committee endorsed site development and coastal development permits for a two-story single-family residence with a subterranean parking garage and an accessory dwelling unit at 8025 Calle del Cielo.

The project totals 17,744 square feet, though about 4,000 of that is the subterranean parking, according to applicant representative Scott Huntsman.

The house will be about 13,000 square feet, set back 68 feet from the street, he said.

The ADU will be used by the family’s nanny and the nanny’s child, Huntsman said. The ADU will be accessed through the larger house.

PRC trustees expressed concerns about the ADU not having a separate entrance, as required by regulations. Huntsman said he would look into that and “satisfy what code is.”

The highest point of the house is the chimney, which is at the height limit of 30 feet.

“I’m overwhelmed by the size of this project,” trustee Ted Haas said.

But trustee Marouane Abdaoui said, “I have no issues with the scale of it, knowing the neighborhood it’s in.”

A motion to support the project passed 5-0, with Haas and PRC Chairman Andy Fotsch abstaining.

8305 Calle del Cielo: A project to demolish a 3,731-square-foot single-family residence and an attached garage and build a 9,091-square-foot single-family home, garages and a pool at 8305 Calle del Cielo also won approval.

The PRC heard the project in March and asked the applicant to return after a neighbor, David Odmark, registered complaints via his attorney about the home’s size and proximity to his own. The project was docketed for the committee’s April meeting but was continued due to lack of a quorum.

Fotsch, the applicant representative from La Jolla-based Will & Fotsch Architects, recused himself from leading the panel’s discussion on the project and from voting on it.

He said he has addressed the objections. “We have reached out to … the adjacent neighbors,” Fotsch said. “We have approval letters from five of them.”

In an effort to satisfy Odmark, whose house is directly north of the proposed construction, Fotsch said he has switched the orientation of the project’s sports court and will add a 6-foot wall to mitigate noise traveling into Odmark’s office, which is three feet from the property line.

The wall will reduce sound transmission by 15 decibels, Fotsch said.

Other changes include adding a hedge along the entire property line, removing a balcony from the upper-level primary bedroom and reducing the window size in the bedrooms and bathroom, Fotsch said.

He also moved a wall and added architectural styling to another.

Architect Hilary Lowe, speaking for Odmark, said that despite the changes, Odmark “is not in support of the project” because of “the overall scope ... the bulk and scale of it.”

“His concern is the proximity to his property line,” Lowe added.

Abdaoui said the bulk and scale should not be examined solely from the “perspective and opinion of [one] neighbor.”

Noting that houses of similar bulk and scale are in the immediate vicinity, trustee Janie Emerson said Odmark “really has no ground to stand on.”

Trustee Larry Davidson said Fotsch had “made a good-faith effort” with the changes to the project.

2382 Via Capri Court: The PRC voted 6-1 to support a combination building permit for a proposed two-story house with an attached garage, a partially covered deck and related site work at 2382 Via Capri Court.

Karina Diamond explains plans for a house on Via Capri Court.

(Elisabeth Frausto)

The project has been reviewed by local planning groups several times, most recently in July, when the PRC voted it down and asked the applicant to address concerns about height measurements and the property’s slope.

Applicant representative Karina Diamond has said the previous property owners received a coastal development permit in 2014 to redesign a historically designated house that was on the lot at the time, but they never completed the project. Instead, that house was illegally demolished.

The current owners — who bought the vacant lot — wanted to build the new house as designed and approved under the previous permit, Diamond said.

In April 2022, the La Jolla Community Planning Association recommended that the applicant treat the proposal as a new development, saying the existing permit called for modifications to an existing structure, but there is no existing structure.

There is to be an 8-foot wall at the slope, Diamond said at the May 18 PRC meeting. A soil expert provided a letter of support to address concerns about soil instability.

“I don’t know that I personally have a huge issue with an 8-foot wall,” Fotsch said.

Abdaoui agreed, saying, “I don’t think the slope is dramatic.”

Emerson said the original plan did not feature a pool, though Diamond said it did.

A motion that findings can be made to support the project passed with Emerson opposed and Fotsch customarily abstaining as chair.

The La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee meets May 18 at the La Jolla Recreation Center.

(Elisabeth Frausto)

Next meeting: The La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee next meets at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 15, at the La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. The agenda will be posted 72 hours in advance at lajollacpa.org. ◆