In the Beginning: Background of the Three Story Issue

Development in the business areas of La Jolla, including Bird Rock, is governed by an ordinance called the Planned District Ordinance, or "PDO", that:

• Limits buildings to 2 stories
• Requires and regulates commercial use on the ground floor
• Regulates, Floor Area Ratio ("FAR"), building set-backs, etc.

(The thirty-foot height limit is separate from the PDO.)

The current PDO has protected La Jolla from overdevelopment and makes it the desirable place we have today. Allowing three stories would increase the population density and change our town forever. Estimates in Bird Rock alone are for 200 to 420 new units under a change to three stories. Additionally, the fear is that developers would seek and be granted variations to the existing commercial restrictions and be allowed to put condos on the first floor. The result would be three stories of condos and concrete canyons along our business districts and main thoroughfares.

Periodically over the past twenty years minor changes in the PDO have been approved by our community groups and sent to the City for approval. They have accumulated there waiting City Council passage. The Bird Rock Community Council, or BRCC, submitted twelve minor changes at the request of First District City Councilman Scott Peters. Seven of these minor changes were approved by the La Jolla community groups and forwarded to the City to join the other amendments awaiting passage.

However, in January 2006 two architects, Mark Lyon and Michael Morten, decided that the existing two story limit should be changed throughout the La Jolla business district and that the Floor Area Ratio (which limits the bulk of buildings) should be substantially increased as well. These two individuals, who are both trustees of the La Jolla Community Planning Association, have been able to obtain the attention of community groups to hear their proposal in a sequence of "community forums."Â Mr. Lyon has already designed a three-story project for a Bird Rock at Bird Rock Ave and La Jolla Blvd despite the current two-story limit and despite the clear opposition to three stories by the Bird Rock Community.

What is the proposal and how does it lead to increased density?

The proposal is to change zoning for La Jolla's commercial areas (the downtown Village and Bird Rock) to:

• Increase in the allowable "Floor Area Ratio" or "FAR" (which relates to the bulk and scale of a building) as much as 30% in certain areas; and
• Increase the maximum number of stories to three - from the longstanding maximum of two stories. The 30 ft height limit would not be affected.

The primary result of this amendment would be an increase in density in La Jolla's commercial districts, because three-stories and a higher FAR would enable developers to more easily build very high density projects, even on small lots. Now, practicalities of construction and setback requirements, etc. make this more difficult within two stories.

The ability to build easily to build higher densities, and the addition of an extra story to take advantage of views and upscale the units, would offer an almost irresistible incentive to developers to buy up properties in the commercial zones, take down one and two story buildings that give La Jolla its character, and build up to 30 feet and out to the maximum extent.

See the "PDO Map" for the commercial areas Lyon and Morton propose to be increased to three stories.

How did this proposal come about?

On February 6, 2006, Mark Lyon and Michael Morton appeared before the La Jolla Community Planning Association's zoning subcommittee to propose a raising the existing two story limit throughout the La Jolla business district to three stories, and to substantially increase the Floor Area Ratio (which limits the bulk and scale of buildings) in the "Zone 4" which includes the areas bordered by residential neighborhoods on Pearl, La Jolla Boulevard and Bird Rock.

Lyon and Morton are architects and developers. Mark Lyon is currently seeking approval for a three-story project on the corner of Bird Rock Avenue and La Jolla Boulevard. Morton's currently has a project on the corner of Forward and La Jolla Boulevard. Lyon's project cannot be built as long as the two-story limit is in place.

"CPA" is the acronym for the La Jolla Community Planning Association. The CPA is the local association responsible for providing meaningful review of land use planning and development issues in La Jolla. The CPA makes recommendations on these proposals to the City of San Diego. There are 19 trustees of the CPA, and the trustees vote on the development and planning proposals before the CPA.

In addition to proposing this amendment, Lyon and Morton are both trustees of the CPA, and Mr. Lyon was recently elected Secretary of the CPA.

How can this move so fast?

The CPA has tagged this proposal onto a set of important and non-controversial amendments to La Jolla's zoning ordinances that have been awaiting approval for years. It has said it will not send any of the amendments to the City unless the three-story proposal is voted on as well, because "no change" to La Jolla's zoning is unacceptable. Unfortunately, fast-tracking the proposal has left our community's residents and businesses with little notice or time to ask questions or voice concerns.

The CPA intended to vote on the Lyon-Morton proposal just a few weeks after it was put forth, but fortunately, concerned members of the CPA, the La Jolla Town Council and Bird Rock Community Council convinced the CPA to hold off on voting. They believe people in La Jolla have not been sufficiently informed, and that this is too significant a change to be pushed through without a thorough study of its impacts on La Jolla and public access to the coast.

The CPA is not bound to follow the request of its own members, the general public, or the Town Council, and despite the widespread concerns with the three-story proposal, the CPA has set its vote for May 4th, 2006.

What is the two-story limit and how has it impacted La Jolla?

Development in the business areas of La Jolla, including the downtown Village and Bird Rock, is governed by a local zoning ordinance called the "Planned District Ordinance," or "PDO", that:

• Limits buildings to 2 stories
• Requires retail and/or commercial use on the ground floor
• Regulates Floor Area Ratio ("FAR"), which limits the bulk and scale of buildings, establishes building setbacks, landscaping and other basic requirements which were created to implement the community's vision

PDO Purpose and Intent --- Full version of Municipal PDO

La Jolla also has an overall thirty-foot height limit for buildings, which is a separate ordinance from the PDO. The 30-foot limit has been challenged all the way to the California Supreme Court, which found it to be legally sound.

Our PDO was the result of extensive community participation, with the expert assistance of city planners. Periodically over the past twenty years minor amendments to the PDO have been recommended by our community groups and sent to the City for approval. To date, such amendments have been benign, such as clarifications and language to close inadvertent loopholes.

At this time in the Village, three-story buildings are only permitted on Prospect, a small area of Girard, and the end of Herschel and Ivanhoe. Two-stories are the maximum in the other commercial areas.

The point of limiting buildings to two stories in these areas is to provide a transition from the high density and high traffic in the core of the village to ease as the streets go to single family residential. The current two story limit keeps the commercial buildings in scale and character with the residential areas that surround the commercial districts. The two story requirements also protect the ocean views for everyone. This was carefully planned years ago, which formed the La Jolla into the livable and attractive community it is today.

Bird Rock's commercial district is unique in that is a single street, La Jolla Boulevard, in an established residential area. The commercial zone of Bird Rock has been growing intensely, and this has already placed huge burden on the residents there. Some homes are only 15 feet from the commercial buildings.

La Jolla's PDO has protected La Jolla from overdevelopment and makes it the charming and livable town we have today. Allowing three stories would increase the population density and change our town forever. The result would be three stories of condos and concrete canyons in our business districts and along our main thoroughfares.

Major land-use changes should not be made in haste.

Changes to the PDO require careful planning and community participation.

If a change to the PDO is called for, certain critical steps must be taken first. The municipal Code requires that the Planning Commission, the City Council or property owners of 50% of the land affected may petition the Mayor to initiate a Planned District Ordinance change.

In addition, town leaders must host a series of workshops facilitated by City Planners and their staff of professionals, in conjunction with the La Jolla Town Council, the CPA, other community groups and the community at large. These workshops must be publicized so they alert residents and business owners to the proposal. These workshops must:

• Educate people on the issues that need to be addressed;
• Lay out the options that exist to address these issues; and
• Develop a community consensus as to how best to do this.

Finally, the language of the amendment must be carefully developed and reviewed to confirm that it achieves the original vision.

This is how the current PDO was put together. And, this is the reason that, on the night it went to the City Council, there were no voices of opposition.

Unfortunately, the authors of the new proposal have turned good planning upside down. They argue that the CPA should pass their amendments "in concept" and worry about the details later. This may serve their purposes as developers and architects, but it is bad planning.

With major zoning changes, it is the concept that requires community awareness and buy-in, before it goes to the City. Otherwise the community is left totally out of the decision-making process at the local level – the very place it should be involved. And the City will spend a lot of time and money working on something that everyone opposes down the line.

Our Current PDO had unprecedented wide-ranging support

When La Jolla's PDO went before the San Diego City Council, it was one of the only times—if not the only time—a project in La Jolla had not one single voice of opposition.

Why? Because:

• It was not rushed
• The community was involved, and no one was excluded,
• Everyone was heard and their concerns were incorporated into the program,
• Developers believed the trade-off benefited them as well
• The public had the confidence that under the ordinance the overdevelopment of the Village with large office buildings would be stopped.

Our PDO was developed during 6 months of weekly meetings facilitated by City Planner Angeles Leira and attended by community residents, business owners and members of the LJTC and CPA and anyone that wanted to be involved. This was followed by a three-month process during which the PDO itself was drafted by City Planners and local attorney Larry Keller, Sue Oxley, Carl ZoBell, architect Mark Feldman, and many others.

The question of densities and number of stories was studied extensively during the process. City Planners photographed every type of building in La Jolla and exhibited them for feedback with their respective numerical attributes (how dense, how tall, how many stories, etc).

Those in attendance gave their impressions regarding the quality of those buildings, whether they worked well, or had a proper "fit" in the community. Participants consistently preferred the 2 story and limited bulk and scale of the FAR we have today.

From this process a broad consensus on heights, the number of stories, the FAR (floor-area-ratio) and the ratio of residential to retail to office space was achieved, and all the other PDO regulations were similarly developed and agreed on. The result is La Jolla's current PDO.

Our PDO: Still an excellent vision for the future of La Jolla

La Jolla's PDO is a highly professional and far-sighted document that embodies the desires of its residents to enhance and preserve La Jolla's charm and character for generations to come.

"It is the purpose of (the PDO) to require that development … will be accomplished in a manner that retains and enhances the economic, historical, architectural, educational, civic, social, cultural, and aesthetic values, and the overall quality of life within the community."

Indeed, the PDO is intended to prevent the very problems the Lyon-Morton proposal would create in La Jolla. The current PDO states:

"These regulations are intended to improve traffic circulation and access to recreation, visitor-serving retail, cultural, residential uses through specific restrictions on office development and the provision of off-street parking standards. The office restrictions and parking standards are consistent with the need to maintain the pedestrian scale of the commercial areas, reduce peak hour traffic congestion, and assure that office uses do not come to dominate such areas nor adversely affect the retail continuity of the major commercial streets. Additionally, these regulations are intended to ensure that new residential development and redevelopment is compatible with the traditional scale and character of the multi-family area and complementary to the Cultural Zone."

PDO Purpose and Intent --- Full version of Municipal PDO

The Saga of Bird Rock

You may wonder why so many Bird Rock residents come to CPA meetings. Bird Rock has paid close attention to land use issues in the past few years, as the SeaHaus condo project on La Jolla Boulevard was very controversial. The community has been working to mitigate increased congestion it was not designed to handle. It was was it was built as a residential community with a neighborhood-serving commercial district.

In 2005, Bird Rock was developing a series of amendments to the PDO for their area. During that time Mark Lyon and Michael Morton proposed the 3-story and increased FAR for Bird Rock, to the surprise of many residents there.

Meanwhile, the non-controversial PDO amendments developed by Bird Rock were passed by the Town Council and CPA, but the CPA refused to send them to the City until the three-story proposal is decided. Residents were told that keeping things as they were was not an option.

Bird Rock residents are very concerned about the proposal and resultant density increases, not only in Bird Rock, but in downtown La Jolla as well, as Bird Rock is the major southerly route in and out of La Jolla. Looking solely at Bird Rock, it is estimated that between 196 to 420 new residences could be built with the three-story proposal. This translates into 1800- 3,000 additional car trips per day – and that's just from new Bird Rock residents.

Bird Rock residents have voiced further concern that developers might seek and be granted "variances" that would allow them to put condos on the first floor, rather than retail as is currently required. This would also reduce the amount of parking developers are required to provide.

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