Rock to Build a Dream In : Architect Has Designs on Landmark Boulder if Review Board Caves In

Edward Bowler has found himself between Aliso Rock and a hard place in trying to build a home.

For nearly 20 years, Bowler, an El Cajon dentist, and his family have been trying to figure out how to build on their Aliso Beach property, which includes the craggy, plant-covered boulder. But rather than build on the property, Bowler and an architect decided to build in it, a solution that the city’s Design Review Board found somewhat less than rock-solid.

Bowler proposes to scoop out the rock’s center like a pumpkin, build a 3,700-square-foot home inside, and recap and replant the boulder so it will appear largely unchanged to thousands of Coast Highway motorists who zip past it each day. The plan has drawn the wrath of traditionalists who want the scenic property preserved and environmentalists who have denounced the plan as a “Disneyland technique.”

Aliso Rock has “very important sentimental value to a lot of people,” said architect Brion Jeannette, who plans to present the blueprints--one of several designs that Bowler has proposed--to the Design Review Board tonight. “It’s a real interesting problem.”

In January, the proposal got a quick thumbs down from the review board. Last month, however, the City Council ruled that the house can be built if it is reduced in size and other problems are ironed out. Councilwoman Lida Lenney cast the lone dissenting vote.

“I understand that legally it’s a building site,” she said, “but you look at it wonder how anyone could come to that conclusion.”

Randy Knapp, president of the South Laguna Civic Assn., said the city should buy the property and preserve “a cherished landmark.” Bowler said he has not rejected that proposal but his family’s repeated attempts to sell the land failed because prospective buyers feared they would not be allowed to build on it.

At one point, Bowler said, the county considered buying the property, which is next to Aliso Creek on county owned-and-operated Aliso Beach, but decided against it.

A 1986 appraisal valued the 10,000-square-foot lot at $750,000, Bowler said. While some council members say the possibility of the city or county buying the land should be entertained, Councilman Neil G . Fitzpatrick said Laguna Beach does not have the money for such a purchase.

“We’ve typically spent our money on buying large parcels, open-space areas,” he said. “When you start talking about oceanfront parcels, you’re not going to get a lot of land for your money.”

If the city is not interested in buying his land, Bowler said, it is time to let him build on it.

“It’s a city-approved lot,” said Bowler, adding that his mother hopes to someday live in the planned beach home that is to be lavishly appointed. “We’ve been paying taxes on it for 21 or 22 years.”

The first plan for the property--which would have perched a house atop the boulder--was rejected by the county about 1973, Bowler said, long before South Laguna was annexed to the city. Another proposal to level part of the rock and place a house on a ledge fell through when Bowler’s father, who had hoped to retire in the home, grew weary of the struggle to gain California Coastal Commission approval, Bowler said. His father has since died.

Although the council has ruled that Bowler’s latest proposal is valid, Design Review Board member John Gasparotti said there are still significant problems that must be worked out before the plan can gain his approval.

In particular, Gasparotti said he is concerned about whether the house will require a seawall for protection, whether the concrete cap intended to recover the rock can be made to look natural and whether it is feasible to consider living inside a rock which has ventilation only on one side.

“I’m going to be real concerned about whether or not this is truly going to work as far as being livable,” Gasparotti said. “While I understand clearly the council’s (sending) this back to the board with the determination that it is a buildable site, that has not made any of the problems” peculiar to this site go away.

In addition, Gasparotti said, there should be a “substantial reduction” in the size of the home compared to plans presented to the board in January.

Jeannette said he has shaved 50 square feet off the blueprint, reducing the home to 3,789 square feet. That should be enough of a reduction, he said, since the Design Review Board has approved plans for larger homes in the beach area.

“We have a much smaller development ratio on the site than anyone else,” he said. “I’m not going to reduce the house any farther than the 50 square feet that’s come out of it.”

Property owners near the rock seem to have sided with Bowler.

“They own the property,” said Charlotte Cunning, who owns a house next door. “We think they’re entitled to build on it.”