At the May 12, meeting of the UC Planning Group, Chair Janay Kruger appointed the applicant to replace Sam Greening. The new member is Isabel Kay, Representative Resident District 2.
Taking the agenda out of order, I will first tell you the news for which many in the South UC neighborhood have been waiting. The Regents Road housing project by Alegria was disapproved in March but they took into account all of the objections of the neighbors, well, except maybe not building at all. Each objection was answered: the 10 two story close houses were reduced to 9 houses with no deviations (front yard width now 50’ rather than 40’, setback now standard 15’ rather than the previous 9’). House #1 closest to Regents Road had the pad lowered by 3’ and re-angled away from the house above it on Renault St. with windows well below the pad of the upper house. Also four of the nine houses will give the buyer the option of having a 3-car garage that could help with the lack of parking, and the tile roofs will be replaced with those more in keeping with the neighborhood. The trees originally on the upper slopes will now be at the bottom of the slopes with native shrubs planted on the slopes.
There was still the push to have the city extend the purple pipes from Standley Park, but so far the city has declined. There was discussion of how the city can really approve the bio-swale as “usable“ open space when it is planted with Juncus Patens, a grass that is 1′-2 ½’ tall and not suitable to be walked upon. The developer has also added a paved walking path around the bio-swale. The owner of the house above house #1 spoke in favor of the development with the proposed changes. The planning group voted to approve.
We welcomed back Kyle Heiskala as Councilperson Sherri Lightner’s spokesman. Kyle was the UCSD student rep and active member of the UCPG for several years. He reminded all of the City water regulations, announced an open meeting to review the city budget on June 8, at 2:00pm at City Hall, and that Sherri is still pushing for a Fast Response Squad in south UC.
Dan Monroe from the City Planning Dept. commented on the amendments to the community plan and the transportation/traffic study (which we reminded him was to be done with existing conditions.) UC is next in line for a complete, updated Community Plan given all the big changes taking place in North UC.
Last month the UCPG had been asked by the Carmel Valley Planning Group to support their opposition to One Paseo. UCPG decided that we did not know all the facts, pros/cons, and changes over the years so instead it was decided to present to the City Council a resolution asking them to listen carefully to the decisions of all planning groups, rather than have them too often overruled by the Planning Commission or the City Council.
The project Manager for Fire Station 50 on Nobel gave an update on the progress and announced a sub committee meeting on design, materials, and elevations.
UCPG chair, Janay Kruger is working on a comprehensive list of all the projects currently on the docket. There are 14 public and 18 private projects that she will detail with start/end dates and send to UCPG members.
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9, 6:00pm at the Forum Hall UTC, above the Wells Fargo Bank.
Submitted by Nancy Groves, UCPG Rep District 1, nancygroves@me.com, Planning Group, SanDiego.gov
Article was first published in the June UCCA newsletter; this post has been edited slightly for clarification.
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