A potential conflict between San Diego building codes and the La Jolla Community Plan could spell trouble for a popular viewpoint that enables drivers traveling down Nautilus Street into La Jolla to see the ocean.
A project to build two houses on two lots in the 1400 block of Nautilus Street, just above the La Jolla Country Club, has raised questions about what can and cannot go in the public right of way.
On one hand, San Diego city planners have identified the location as a “viewshed,” as outlined in the La Jolla Community Plan. Furthermore, the plan lists portions of Nautilus Street as “public vantage points.”
On the other hand, the city requires all new residential development to include street trees, which by design have to be near public streets or sidewalks. Thus, the Nautilus home project includes planting at least eight street trees.
A group of local residents went to the La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee meeting Oct. 21 with concerns about whether the trees violate the community plan and how that should be addressed.
Jim Neri, the landscape architect for the project, said eight street trees “were planted … as required by the city of San Diego” and that the plans are for “one street tree per 30 linear feet of frontage,” applying to both parcels.
La Jolla resident Sally Miller said she has counted 12 trees there and that they are already blocking views.
“I’d like to see us fight the city on this,” Miller said.
DPR trustee Brian Williams said the trees appear to be closer to one every 10 feet and questioned whether some of them could be moved throughout the property and away from the street so “we can open up some of that view.”
Neri said he hadn’t measured the distance between the trees but that he would do so. “If they are not planted per [the] plan, that could be an adjustment that could be made,” he said.
Resident Melinda Merryweather warned that “it’s going to be alarming to people how awful it is going to feel to drive down there and just see trees or a fence. It’s horrible and wrong.”
The DPR Committee agreed to send a letter to the city suggesting it “made an error in requiring trees in a viewshed … and get this tree requirement reversed.” DPR Chairman Brian Will said it also will ask whether anything can be done to preserve or further open up the view.
The letter will be sent to the La Jolla Community Planning Association for possible ratification and submission to the city.
Other DPR news
Moonlight Lane: A project planned for the La Jolla Mesa neighborhood will return at a future DPR meeting for a possible vote after a preliminary review Oct. 21.
A rendering depicts a proposed home development at 5390 Moonlight Lane in La Jolla. (Screenshot by Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
The project at 5390 Moonlight Lane proposes a new 9,900-square-foot single-story house over a partial basement, along with a new garage, a pool and landscaping on a 27,513-square-foot vacant lot.
Applicant representative Francisco Mendiola said the design is “on the contemporary side” and would block as few views as possible by having “the bulk of the house fully underground but then open up toward the view.”
While the house is technically one story, DPR trustee Angeles Leira said that because of the basement, “this reads like a two-story house.”
However, she said, “I like the project and the way it is being kept down.”
After a lengthy review, the applicant was asked to return with satellite images of the site, additional renderings with setbacks and showing how the property relates to its neighbors, a materials board for the exterior and more.
Next meeting: The La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee meets the second and third Tuesdays of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Nov. 11 online. The agenda will be posted 72 hours in advance at lajollacpa.org. ♦