Developer of Turquoise Street project ‘fundamentally disagrees’ with San Diego’s review
With the San Diego Development Services Department saying its application is “incomplete” and “cannot be approved at this time,” the developer of a controversial 239-foot-tall residential-commercial building proposed for Turquoise Street in north Pacific Beach isn’t giving up.
“The applicant fundamentally disagrees with the city’s assessment of the project and its current review status and believes [city] staff is on the verge of setting a dangerous precedent that sends a message to every homebuilder and developer that the city is willing to politicize its ministerial approval process even if you play by the rules,” Matt Awbrey, a spokesman for Kalonymus LLC, said in a statement last week to The San Diego Union-Tribune. “The applicant looks forward to continuing to work with city staff on this project and is therefore in the process of providing a formal response to the city.”
Kalonymus filed a permit application with Development Services in August 2024 for the 22-story, $185 million project planned for 970 Turquoise St., not far from La Jolla’s southern boundary.
Locals have dubbed it the “Turquoise Tower,” and many have protested its size, which would dwarf the city’s 30-foot coastal height limit. It would do so via a state density bonus law that supersedes local voter initiatives and planning rules, allowing developers to add to their projects for including certain quantities of housing considered affordable for lower-income residents.
Ten of the proposed 214 residential units are designated for very-low- to middle-income households. A large portion — 139 units — is described as visitor accommodations, or hotel rooms, though the developer has said it plans to use those units as market-rate apartments. The plan also includes ground-floor shops and 311 parking spaces.
As reported by the La Jolla Light on Jan. 23, a letter dated Dec. 23 from Development Services assistant directors Keely Halsey and Gary Geiler told Kalonymus that “insufficient and conflicting information” in the application has “frustrated the city’s ability to make a determination as to the applicant’s requests for incentives and waivers under state density bonus law.”
A key issue, according to the letter, is that “the plans assign the land-use label ‘visitor accommodation’ (a type of commercial use) to refer to 139 … units and use the label ‘dwelling unit’ (a type of residential use) to refer to the other 75 units. The applicant’s strategy is to call the units commercial for some purposes and residential for other purposes, but the city needs clarity in order to perform its duties. … In its next resubmittal, the applicant needs to choose which is accurate. … The applicant may revise its project … or demonstrate how the non-residential units would in fact be used for visitors.”
In recent months, Kalonymus has invoked another state law, Assembly Bill 130, to try to force the city to issue the building permit. The law, which went into effect last summer, requires public agencies to make a decision within a set timeframe on housing development projects being reviewed ministerially — without public hearings — and deems failure to act as approval.
Kalonymus has claimed the project should be considered approved because the city did not act within 60 days of the project’s third submission July 24.
The city does not agree.
“The city has reviewed each submittal and provided detailed comments to the applicant explaining where the plans are inadequate, unclear or incorrect,” a representative told the Union-Tribune. “Currently, the plans are still non-compliant.
“It is wholly unreasonable for an applicant to draw out the review process by failing to make corrections after being told multiple times, and then claim that the passage of time gets them out of having to make the corrections. This is not a good-faith tactic. The city has a responsibility to the public and future users of the building [to ensure] that it actually complies with code.”
Children’s Pool to have daily docent monitoring
For the duration of harbor seal pupping season in La Jolla, newly trained docents will be at the Children’s Pool from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Pupping season continues through May 15, during which time the Children’s Pool beach is closed to the public to help protect seal mothers and pups.
Sierra Club Seal Society President Robyn Davidoff says club members recently trained 69 UC San Diego students to be docents in the area.
“They will have a sign that says ‘Pup patrol’ … and they will be looking for anyone on the beach” and to provide information to visitors, Davidoff said.
Women in Science lecture coming Feb. 11
La Jolla-based medical research institute Sanford Burnham Prebys announced speakers for its upcoming Women in Science lecture, highlighting groundbreaking work and unique perspectives of female leaders in biomedical sciences.
The lecture is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, at Sanford Burnham Prebys’ LaFave Memorial Auditorium at 10905 Road to the Cure.
The speakers will be Cheryl Anderson, professor and dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Longevity Science at UC San Diego, and Dr. Angela Liou, a pediatric neuro-oncologist who has a dual appointment at Rady Children’s Health and the Cancer Genome & Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys.
The event is free, but registration is required at sbpdiscovery.org/events/women-in-science-feb-11. ♦