Two home remodeling projects proposed for Prestwick Drive were pitched at the La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee’s November meeting, but both will be returning later once certain details are refined.
One project calls for additions of 3,644 square feet to a one-story house on a 1.04-acre site at 8303 Prestwick. Among the plans presented Nov. 20 were a new 2,578-square-foot second floor, a new 765-square-foot third floor and additions to the first floor and two-car garage.
The property’s floor area ratio, or size of the building in relation to its lot, would be 0.26.
The project, named the Narla Residence, initially was designed by a different architect and received backing from the La Jolla Community Planning Association.
But amid an attempt to do a 50% remodel of the home, the applicants learned they needed different permits, and Island Architects of La Jolla took over the project, according to applicant representative Spencer Miller. The house “has been all but demolished” for about a year, he added.
Miller said the applicants invited several neighbors to review the plans. A neighbor to the north provided comments, while a neighbor to the south offered a letter of support.
The project went to the La Jolla Shores Planned District Advisory Board on Nov. 19 and was approved with two conditions, according to Miller.
The conditions, generally speaking, would provide more design articulation for the north wall, and the work would be pushed back five feet along with the balcony. Miller said he was unsure whether the latter would change because he felt the request was based on faulty data.
The Permit Review Committee opted against taking a vote and instead asked Miller to return with more details.
“It might be a little too vague at this point,” Chairman Andy Fotsch said.
“You could take the message back to [the owners] that we like what you presented, and if it comes back to us that way with specific measurements, we will approve,” trustee Janie Emerson said. “That gives you some leverage, but it also lets us not approve something that’s too amorphous right now.”
The other project presented to the PRC calls for a complete remodel and additions to a one-story, 2,700-square-foot house at 8171 Prestwick. It would add a new 3,157-square-foot second floor, 671 square feet to the first floor and 133 square feet to the garage.
Also in the plans are covered patios in the front and rear, as well as a new terrace and balconies on the second floor.
Eric Buchanan and Mark Morris of Oasis Architecture & Design in Pacific Beach represented the project, called the Salem Residence.
A presentation by Oasis Architecture & Design shows plans for a complete remodel at 8171 Prestwick Drive. (Screenshot by Noah Lyons)
“We’re actually removing the existing house,” Morris said. “It was originally started as an addition and basically we’re expanding the footprint and we’re just going to end up demoing the existing structure.”
Morris said the Shores Planned District Advisory Board encouraged them to increase landscaping, reduce the number of driveway cuts from two to one, remove the basement and offset the north side of the structure.
The basement was removed from the plans for “archaeo-impact reasons,” and the second driveway cut also was removed, the team said.
Buchanan and Morris added that they were encouraged to reach out to neighbors but had not yet done so. They also were in the process of securing a geotechnical report, drainage study, water pollution control plan and more.
“Especially as the designs evolve, I think it’s important to bring the neighbors into it. I always like to hear … what they have to say,” PRC member John Shannon said. “It makes for a more cohesive neighborhood [and] just a better neighborhood vibe when they understand what’s coming in.”
Without taking a vote, the committee recommended that the team return at a future meeting. Buchanan and Morris said they would get the reports completed, take city of San Diego feedback into account and talk to the neighbors. ♦