All three projects that came before the La Jolla Development Permit Review committee during its Oct. 13 will be coming back for additional review, with trustees needing additional information before voting.
240 Rosemont St.
A project at 240 Rosemont St. in the Beach Barber Tract neighborhood calls for a remodel and addition to what is currently a 1,493-square-foot house. This includes a 146-square-foot addition to the second floor, the creation of a 394-square-foot third floor, and other reconfigurations to the house. The project would also add a 638-square-foot accessory dwelling unit.
The lot also has a structurally attached, three-story, 2,170-square-foot house at 232 Rosemont St., but that unit will not undergo any changes.
DPR trustee John Shannon expressed concerns over the impact the remodel project may have on neighbors’ views and said that the project appears to be “a muddled conglomeration of things.”
He explained, “(For) the massing of the building and the complications of it, I’m not an architect, but I look at it and … it’s confusing to the eye.”
Fellow trustee Kevin Leon asked applicant representative Claude Anthony Marengo to confirm that the project conforms with the 30-foot coastal height limit. DRP chairman Brian Will also asked Marengo to clarify details on setbacks in the southeast corner of the house.
447 Nautilus St.
Under a proposal for 447-449 Nautilus St., also in the Beach Barber Tract neighborhood, two detached multi-story houses would be demolished and two new ones would be constructed on a 0.15 acre (approximately 6,500-square-foot) lot. The project also calls for the construction of a pair of two-car garages with a 401-square-foot ADU atop each one.
“The basic concept of the design is to tear down two existing cottages on this small, long, narrow lot on Nautilus and build two new contemporary-style homes,” explained applicant representative Jess Gonzales.
One of the houses is expected to be used by the owner, while the other will either be rented out or used for other purposes.
Gonzales added that after the project was reviewed by the city of San Diego, the applicant team believes they’re meeting “all pertinent bylaws, ordinances and items like that.”
But before DPR members vote, the board asked him to return with renderings of the buildings to show what the development will look like and how it compares to surrounding buildings.
5815 La Jolla Mesa Dr.
The last of the three proposals to come before the board looks to address code violations and modify the existing property at the same time.
According to a letter written by the city’s Development Services Department, the owner at 5815 La Jolla Mesa Drive in the La Jolla Mesa neighborhood received a notice of code violation for “failure to obtain (permits) for grading in environmentally-sensitive lands” after some work on the property.
Applicant representative Ed Siefken explained this is because the owner received notices over the period of a couple years about brush management, and in response, he cleared brush and soil and unknowingly went beyond his property line onto park land.
Thus, the project presented at the DPR calls for revegetation and restoration of grading on the property. Alongside that work, the homeowner wants to make other changes, including construction of a new basement garage, ADU, portico, office, pool house and storage room. The applicant team also looks to do a 10-foot extension of an existing garage.
But Siefken’s presentation left DPR trustees with more questions than answers. Trustee Greg Jackson said he was “totally lost at sea” during the presentation.
“At this point, I’m just quite confused about what’s existing, what’s not existing, what’s a code violation, what’s in construction,” he said. “It’s hard to make sense of that. I guess the blunt statement is we need a very different kind of presentation so we can understand what’s going on here.”
Will recommended the team return with more detailed plans, saying, “I think at this point our best course of action is to start fresh next week with a more organized presentation of what this project is.”
Next meeting
The DPR committee meets the second and third Tuesday of the month online. The next meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Oct. 20, beyond La Jolla Light’s print deadline. The findings will be reported in a future issue. Learn more: lajollacpa.org