The Issue of Rezoning La Jolla

What La Jolla Will Be Like With the New High Density Condos...

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." 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.