Culture Zone for La Jolla Is Scuttled

After juggling the issue for nearly a year, city planning commissioners Thursday rejected a proposed “cultural zone” to preserve several venerable institutions clustered around Prospect Street and Silverado Avenue in La Jolla.

Activists plan to appeal the decision, so the controversial proposal apparently is headed for the City Council.

The issue was born when it was learned last January that the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art was eyeing a downtown site on the bayfront after receiving a lucrative offer for its choice 2.2-acre La Jolla site from a builder of condominiums.

The proposed cultural zone would have prevented museum officials from selling the property for high-density residential purposes, which could fetch $10 million to $20 million.

The cultural zone generated a great debate among La Jollans but no agreement. It would have “down-zoned” the five-block area, which includes the museum and five other institutions, to exclude high-density residential development. The city Planning Commission turned down the plan by a 4-2 vote Thursday.

Sue Oxley, a La Jolla activist, had predicted that the commission would endorse a compromise measure that would have reduced the size of the cultural zone to exclude some of the land owned by the private institutions--St. James-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, La Jolla Presbyterian Church and the Bishop’s School.

But only Commission Chairman Ron Roberts and Commissioner Paula Oquita favored Oxley’s compromise. The other commissioners voted to reject both the strict controls proposed by the city planning staff and the Oxley compromise.

Officers and attorneys of the institutions argued that the cultural zone restrictions would strip “away the underlying value of our land.”

Chris Calkins, president of the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, said the private organization was “looking to do something more with the site” on Prospect Street, but needed to borrow on the value of the property to finance any such venture. Spokesmen from all the institutions stressed that they did not plan to sell or develop their properties but echoed Calkins’ criticism of restrictions reducing property values.

Under Oxley’s compromise, a portion of Bishop’s School’s playing fields and both churches’ parking lots and auxiliary buildings on the outer limits of the proposed zone would have been exempted from the zoning restrictions. But cultural organization leaders balked at any new controls, and La Jolla civic groups voiced support for the larger and more restrictive cultural zone controls.

Roberts said the hearing was unusual “in that we usually have a villain, a developer, to focus upon. But here, we have the whole community in agreement that they want to preserve the cultural institutions” but in disagreement on how to accomplish that goal.

He warned fellow commissioners that even if the museum no longer plans to move out of La Jolla, “I’m convinced we have to face this dilemma now” to prevent future moves by cultural organizations.

Commissioner Yvonne Larsen balked at the cultural zone proposals, admitting that, “I’d be down here myself opposing this if I sat on the board of one of these (cultural) groups.”

She said the cultural zone ordinance was “superfluous” and “overkill.”

Commissioner Henry Empeno suggested that an assessment district be formed to reimburse the institutions for any loss of property value caused by the restrictions, but he gained no support for that proposal.

Commissioner Oquita recommended that the San Diego Planning Department continue to work on a compromise cultural zone plan, despite Thursday’s vote, but Roberts vetoed the idea. “I think it’s time to send this on to the City Council,” he said.

Chief Deputy City Atty. Frederick Conrad said that the commission’s action in rejecting the cultural zone ordinance did not send the idea automatically to the City Council.

Admitting that the legal status of the proposal was unclear, Conrad told commissioners that he thought Oxley, the chief proponent of the measure, could appeal the Planning Commission’s rejection to the City Council.

After the session, Oxley said she would not let the measure die.

“I will continue to pursue the issue,” she said, “whatever it takes.”