Architect Now Optimistic Rock Home Will Be Built : Planning: Officials have suggested that the house be smaller in size. Other problems are considered minor.

A controversial plan to hollow out a large rock at Aliso Beach and build a home inside it will likely become a reality if the size of the house is reduced and other lesser problems are resolved.

Newport Beach architect Brion Jeannette, who had been skeptical going into Thursday’s meeting of the city Design Review Board, said afterward that he is now “very optimistic” that his plan will gain city approval.

“It was quite clear they accept the fact that there can be a project at the site,” he said.

Jeannette’s design calls for the rock’s center to be scooped out like a pumpkin for the building of a two-story, 3,789-square-foot house inside. The foliage-covered rock would then be recapped with concrete and replanted to appear largely unchanged from vantage points along Coast Highway.

Although some residents and officials had questioned the wisdom of building inside the rock, which one South Laguna resident called “a cherished landmark,” the City Council ruled that it is a legal building site. Now officials have shifted their focus to issues of home design.

“The basic issue is that it has become a legal issue,” said Village Laguna President Johanna Felder, who had protested the project at an earlier City Council meeting. “It is a legal building site.”

The architect’s most pressing challenge will now be to “significantly reduce” the size of the house, which one review board member suggested should be decreased by at least 25%. Jeannette, who had previously cut the design plan by 50 square feet and had said he would trim no further, said Friday that he is now ready to compromise.

“I need to budge,” he said, “and the question is how much.”

Design Review Board Chairman John Gasparotti agreed that solutions to the remaining problems surrounding the house can be reached, so long as Jeannette agrees to reduce the size of the house.

Jeannette plans to bring revised blueprints to the city in about a week. The Design Review Board would then schedule another hearing on the project, probably about a month after the new plans are submitted.

Jeannette’s original plan had been rejected by the review board in January, but the City Council said last month that the rock is a legal building site, and sent the proposal back to the board for further review.

A previous plan to build a home atop the rock was rejected by the county before South Laguna was annexed to Laguna Beach. Jeannette said the current proposal is environmentally sensitive and keeps in mind that the rock has “sentimental value” for some residents.

“This house, the side walls are the rock itself,” he said. “When you’re coming into the house, it almost feels like going into a cave.”

Some residents and council members have said that the city or county should explore the possibility of buying the property, which is on a county-owned and operated beach, to preserve the rock. However, Councilman Neil G. Fitzpatrick said the city cannot afford to make such a purchase.

On Friday, Felder, whose group has been active in helping the city purchase some parcels, agreed.

“There’s no way to (preserve) it unless they buy it,” she said. “And as Neil Fitzpatrick said, we don’t have the money for oceanfront property. We want to buy open space.”

The landowner, El Cajon dentist Edward Bowler, whose family has grappled for more than two decades with ways to build on the land, said Friday that he is beginning to believe that the home can be built.

“After 22 years, it looks like there’s maybe a good chance,” he said.