Permit subcommittee delays action La Jolla Farms project

By Dave Schwab

Staff Writer

A lot was said but action was put off until Nov. 15 on a proposal to build a 21,592-square-foot main home and adjacent guest quarters in La Jolla Farms during Tuesday’s meeting of the Development Permit Review subcommittee.

Called the Encore Trust project, the proposal for the large home and 2,149-square-foot guest house on a 1.5-acre lot at 9872 La Jolla Farms Road, has drawn opposition from neighbors who say the project is out of scale with their neighborhood and would obstruct coastal views.

Those neighbors were set to meet on Wednesday with the property owners representatives to discuss their difference of opinions

Although the project was initially OK’d by the subcommittee, which reviews permit applications for conformance to the La Jolla community plan and city codes and then forwards recommendations to the Community Planning Association, members were asked to take a second look at the project.

Neighbors had protested at the Nov. 3 LJCPA meeting and the issue was referred back to the subcommittee.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Tony Crisafi — who chairs the LJCPA and is an architect — spoke for La Jolla Farms neighbors opposed to the development. He questioned the calculations used to determine the ratio between the allowable size of the proposed dwelling and the developable area of its lot and said more environmental analysis is needed.

Crisafi also asked that applicants produce a computer-generated “simulated view” of how the project would appear from the nearby Torrey Pines park, which includes the gliderport as that is part of the public “viewshed” which needs to be preserved.

Joe LaCava, also a LJCPA trustee and past chair, is representing the applicant in his professional role as a development consultant. He acknowledged that the amended project is indeed “large,” but added many homes in the upscale neighborhood are. He added that the project has been designed to preserve ocean views and to be respectful of neighbors.

As planning group trustees, both men will have to refrain from voting on the Encore Trust plan when it comes before the full board.

The project should be back before the development review panel at 4 p.m. Nov. 15 at the La Jolla Rec Center, 615 Prospect St.