A group of La Jolla residents is suing to stop Adelante, a 13-unit project with ground-floor retail in Bird Rock, alleging it does not comply with the city’s adopted growth outline for the neighborhood.
The La Jolla Village Residents Association, a nonprofit advocacy group, in January sued a subsidiary of prominent coastal developer Murfey Company, to stop the project at 5575 La Jolla Blvd., a year after the city council unanimously approved it.
The project includes ground-floor retail, a roof deck and13 townhomes, including one reserved for low-income residents
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Adelante appeases many common development concerns: It includes more parking spots than the number of units, and doesn’t surpass the coastal height limit of 30 feet for new buildings.
But the lawsuit primarily challenges the project over the amount of retail it includes and that despite complying with the coastal height limit, its height still exceeds what’s allowed by La Jolla’s community plan.
“This project is, first of all, it’s quite large for this site,” said Julie Hamilton, the lawyer who brought the suit on behalf of the resident group.
Adelante includes 1,100 square feet of retail space — below the 50% of the ground floor that is supposed to be reserved for retail in Bird Rock, as required by the area’s community plan and local coastal plan.
But developers relied on the state’s powerful density bonus law to receive a waiver from the retail requirement, in exchange for including a low-income unit.
“I think the biggest issue that the community was concerned with is that it doesn’t include the required ground-floor commercial,” Hamilton said.
The initial project proposal didn’t include any retail, but developers added the space based on community feedback before the city’s planning commission approved it in late 2024.
While remaining below 30 feet on all sides, Adelante includes a partially subterranean parking garage that pushes the ground-floor retail above the sidewalk. The residents’ lawsuit argues this makes it three stories, in violation of a two-story limit in the community plan. The developers do not believe the partially underground garage makes Adelante a three-story building.
“(Adelante is) really conforming to that two-story height limit that’s really important to Bird Rock and that we really respect,” Russ Murfey, the developer, told La Jolla’s planning group.
The developer and the city have together filed a demurrer in the case, arguing that even if everything in the claim is true, it does not meet a legal standard to stop the project. A hearing on that filing is set for September. The judge could essentially dismiss the case if they agree with the developer and city.
At public hearings, project opponents have said the project’s focus on housing over retail would change the character of the area that is supposed to be a commercial corridor.
Supporters have argued bringing in new residents will support existing retailers. A developer-conducted survey of the area found 19 of Bird Rock’s 98 commercial sites, or about one-fifth, were vacant.
Adelante would replace an empty office building and parking lot.
“I just want to see this empty corner brought back to life with housing,” said Harry Bubbins, vice president of the La Jolla Community Planning Association, speaking in his own capacity. “Every real neighbor I’ve spoken with can’t wait to see this project built.”
Hamilton is confident in her clients’ suit, citing her experience winning a similar case for the same residents association in 2010.
That case successfully blocked a three-story, mixed-use development two blocks from Adelante for surpassing the two-story height limit.
Now, a two-story building with an e-bike shop and optometrist below upstairs condos sits on the site at 5702 La Jolla Blvd.
She prevailed thanks to the California Environmental Quality Act, California’s landmark environmental protection law, which has itself undergone significant changes in recent years as lawmakers reined in the law for blocking housing projects.
The state has passed other laws meant to overrule local restrictions, and has strengthened its density bonus law, which Adelante is using.
Zack Defazio-Farrell, an attorney who volunteers with the pro-development YIMBY Democrats of San Diego County, called 2010 “basically a different era at this point.”
