Final Hurdle Cleared for Development in La Jolla

Developers of the controversial Blackhorse Farms project in La Jolla cleared a final hurdle Thursday when the California Coastal Commission approved plans for a 24-acre residential and research complex on UC San Diego land.

The coast panel’s action ended a three-year battle between the development firm of Sickels, O’Brian & Associates and La Jolla residents who sought to block the project. The residents charged that the project--which they claim is a money-making venture for the university--would create unnecessary density and traffic congestion in their neighborhood.

Although many commissioners apparently were sympathetic to the residents’ concerns, they ruled unanimously that the proposed complex would meet all commission requirements.

The concerns of the residents should have been addressed by the San Diego City Council before it approved the plan, commission Chairman Melvin L. Nutter said after the meeting. The Coastal Commission can halt a project only when it will adversely affect the coastal region, and the Blackhorse Farms project, as submitted, would have no negative affects on the coastal region, he said.

“It may have been the world’s worst project,” Nutter said, “but there are a lot of legitimate concerns that are not our business to deal with, and people want us to.

“We (coastal commissioners) are constantly being accused of overreaching and doing too much. This time we tried not to. We do not like playing Supreme Court.”

Plans for the project include two estate homes, 68 town houses and 138 condominiums in three three-story buildings. There would also have been an executive conference center with a 200-room hotel.

The developers initially included 18,000 feet of commercial space in their proposal. But the San Diego City Council refused to approve the proposal, and the commercial space was dropped to reach a compromise with local residents and the council.

No date for breaking ground on the project has been set, but UC San Diego community planner Patricia Collum estimated Thursday that it will be at least six months.

After the vote was taken, one La Jolla resident shook hands with some of her opponents and declared them “the winners.” The remaining residents gathered to themselves in a hallway to discuss their defeat.

“I get the feeling they did not hear a word we said,” San Diego City Councilman Bill Mitchell said after the vote. “Sure, the university needs the center, but not in our neighborhood.”

Mitchell accused UC San Diego Chancellor Richard Atkinson of being concerned about neither La Jolla nor its residents. Atkinson may have won the fight to have the project built, Mitchell said, but the university lost the public relations battle.

David Tompkins, vice president of La Jollans Inc., called the defeat a sad day for La Jolla and its residents, and blamed the City Council for not stopping the proposal before it reached the commission.

“I’m sad for La Jolla and the surrounding communities because it’s an inappropriate use of that land,” he said. “When the opponents got approval from the San Diego City Council, they had pretty much won the match. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion.”

Tompkins and Mitchell, along with three other La Jolla residents, had hoped to win a delay until coastal commissioners could hold a public hearing in San Diego. But when Mitchell made the request, he met stiff opposition from Commissioner David Malcolm of San Diego. “As much as I would like to support my local councilman,” Malcolm said, “I believe there have been enough public hearings on the proposal. For us to continue it would be unfair to the applicant.”

Malcolm accused the five La Jolla residents of belonging to a small group of residents opposing the development. If more La Jollans truly opposed to the project, he said, they would have taken time to attend the meeting.

Mitchell replied that he had polled every household in the immediate area of the proposed center and found overwhelming opposition to the project. And when he told Malcolm that La Jolla residents could not afford to stop working and pay for a trip to Los Angeles, Malcolm replied; “I cannot believe that people in La Jolla cannot afford a bus to Los Angeles.”

“So are you going to discriminate against them because they are rich?” Mitchell asked the commissioner.

Several commissioners expressed a desire to hold a public hearing in La Jolla, but an attorney representing the developers would not consent to the delay.