While two emergency permits for bluff repairs next to properties in Bird Rock already being processed, a third permit is being sought for the area.
The La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee gave its support July 15 to a plan to build a coastal bluff seawall at 5360 Calumet Ave.
Applicant Bob Trettin, whose firm is carrying out the project, proposes to construct a reinforced shotcrete wall with tieback anchors in the face of the bluff. Shotcrete is concrete sprayed at high velocity onto a surface. It would be hand-carved and would match the color and texture of the surrounding bluffs, according to the applicant team.
When a new structure is built, especially near a bluff, it must have a Factor of Safety of 1.5, Trettin previously told the La Jolla Light, meaning it is deemed safe for 75 years and that the structure won’t damage the site. As structures and bluffs age, the Factor of Safety decreases.
Anything less than 1.2 is considered an emergency. Once a property reaches 1.0, it might already have failed “or could fail overnight,” Trettin said.
The property at 5360 Calumet has a Factor of Safety of 1.16, but the project is not being processed as an emergency.
Trettin also has bluff repair projects in the works at 5316 and 5322 Calumet. Those applications, which also propose a reinforced shotcrete wall with tieback anchors, are being processed as emergencies.
Trettin said other properties in the area also might be in jeopardy.
“I don’t foresee [the issues on] Calumet stopping at the three properties I represent,” he said. “I have walked on the beach and there are a number of threatened residences there.”
Bird Rock resident Mary Lynn Hyde said she is concerned about “all the properties on Calumet” and some on Bandera Street as well.
“It’s a problem now,” she said of Bandera, which has a coastal overlook at the end of the street where it meets Calumet Avenue. “There must be a solution that all parties can come to.”
“I’ve watched that cliff deteriorate … sometimes several feet a year,” said Hyde, who has lived in the area for 30 years.
DPR Chairman Brian Will said “we need to address” the issue on a more comprehensive level, and board member Brian Williams said he would discuss it with the La Jolla Community Planning Association and any applicable committees.
The board voted 4-1 to endorse the project at 5360 Calumet, with trustee Greg Jackson opposing without comment and Will customarily abstaining.
Other DPR news
La Jolla Farms ADU: A proposal that had gone before the DPR Committee twice previously was presented again July 15, this time leaving with a vote of support.
The development would build a 735-square-foot detached accessory dwelling unit on a site with an existing one-story house at 9450 La Jolla Shores Drive in the La Jolla Farms area.
When the project was presented to the DPR in May, neighbor Paola Cessi said the proposed second story would create a “watchtower” appearance affecting surrounding houses. Others shared her concerns about privacy.
Thus, the applicant team revised the plans.
The original proposal called for the ADU to be two stories, but Francis Ramos of T7 Architecture said the second-story loft has been struck from the plans and “a lot of the upper windows are gone.”
There are no changes to the size of the development, but it was “pushed and pulled to [be closer to] the house to get a bit more footprint and accommodate the studio-style space,” Ramos said.
Cessi continued to argue that the planned ADU is a “massive vertical structure” that is “not in line with the neighborhood character” and asked that it be reduced again.
Some DPR members said the structure appears larger than previous iterations, despite the square footage being the same.
However, Will said he was encouraged to see the applicant team “listen to the neighbors’ concerns. … I want to commend the applicant for taking as bold a step as they did.”
A motion to support the project passed unanimously.
Next meeting: The La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee next meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12, online. The agenda will be posted 72 hours in advance at lajollacpa.org. ♦