SDMGA Report:
California Coastal Commission letter to City of San Diego regarding Proposed Torrey Pines Club House and Century Club Office Building Construction
The San Diego Municipal Golfer's Alliance (SDMGA) received a copy of the California Coastal Commission letter to the City of San Diego regarding its proposed new building construction. Among the interesting items discussed is the Commission's concern over proposed modifications to the fee structure for public use of the golf facilities. "The Commission is required to protect and preserve lower-cost recreational facilities such as municipal golf courses."
_______________________________________________________________________
March 14, 2006
City of San DiegoAttn: Kevin Oliver MS 614
1010 Second Avenue, Suite 1400
San Diego, CA 92101
Re: Coastal Development Permit Application #6-06-017
Dear Mr. Oliver:
Commission staff has reviewed the above cited permit application for demolition of the existing golf course clubhouse and driving range shack and construction of a new clubhouse, tournament support building and associated site improvements including parking, landscaping, hardscaping, etc. at the Torrey Pines Golf Course on North Torrey Pines Road, and determined that additional information is necessary in order to properly review this application and schedule it for public hearing. Therefore, the application remains un-filed at this time. Please submit the following items and/or information:
• Copy of coastal development permit for existing clubhouse;
• Floor plans of existing clubhouse;
• Clarification of coastal development permit jurisdiction;
• Copies of final site development and appealable coastal development permits;
• Notice of final action for appealable coastal development permit;
• Sightlines from North Torrey Pines Road looking west across site; and
• Information regarding fee schedules and the Century Club.
First, please submit a copy of the coastal development permit issued for the construction of the existing clubhouse. The Mitigated Negative Declaration states this facility was constructed in 1989, but we have been unable to locate any record of the coastal development permit in this office issued by either the Commission or the City. With respect to this building, please also submit a copy of the existing floor plans for the structure to document the range of amenities currently available to the golfing public.
Please clarify the City’s coastal development permit jurisdiction on this site. Attached to the Report to the Hearing Officer, are draft site development and coastal development permits and associated findings. The draft coastal development permit appears to cover the entire site and range of proposed amenities; however, our maps indicate most, if not all, of the Torrey Pines Golf Course, and the project site, is an area of deferred certification, where the Coastal Commission retains jurisdiction over coastal development permits. The Mitigated Negative Declaration also indicated that the coastal development permit would be processed only by the Coastal Commission. The appropriate information is being forwarded to the Commission’s mapping unit so that an official jurisdictional boundary may be determined.
In the meantime, if all local discretionary actions are complete, please submit copies of the final site development and coastal development permits approved by the City, along with the notice of final action for the coastal development permit. Until we receive the notice of final action, we cannot run the mandatory 10-working-day appeal period for any project at this site. Moreover, if the local actions are not complete and all local appeal periods run, the application cannot be filed or processed.
The Mitigated Negative Declaration did not include any visual analysis for the proposed new construction. Please provide sight-lines, story poles or computer-generated images of the two proposed main structures, so that a determination can be made if any significant changes to existing views from North Torrey Pines Road will result from the proposed project.
Finally, please provide information regarding any proposed modifications to the existing fee structure for public use of the golf facilities. The Commission is required to protect and preserve lower-cost recreational facilities such as municipal golf courses. A concern has been raised that a greater emphasis on professional tournament play will limit general public use of the site and may result in higher fees. Also, please advise what the Century Club is and how its involvement will affect existing and future public use of the facility.
Finally, it appears a plan sheet from another project was inadvertently inserted into the subject plans. Please confirm that the “Calabria in San Diego” second-story floor plan for a residential structure was included in error, and it will be removed from the plan set.
Please do not limit your submittal to the above mentioned items. You may submit any information which you feel may help Commission staff gain a clear understanding of the scope of the your project. When all required information is received, reviewed by staff and found to be adequate to analyze the project, and a permit jurisdictional boundary has been determined, your application will be filed and scheduled on the next available Commission agenda. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.
Sincerely,
