La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA) held its first ad hoc committee meeting on operating policies on Wednesday, May 18, to clarify confusion from earlier this year regarding changes made to LJCPA’s rules and procedures, particularly in its appellate process. “The purpose of the committee is to go over the policies that are online now and figure out what to do with them,” said committee Chairman Devin Burstein. Burstein emphasized that LJCPA is not looking to increase the number of its policies. The catalyst for LJCPA’s need to reevaluate its operational procedures and bylaws was brought to light by threats of a lawsuit by Bob and Kim Whitney, developers of the Whitney project, a building proposal for a three-story, mixed-use development in La Jolla Shores. The Whitneys questioned the legitimacy of the LJCPA’s appeal of their project due to bookkeeping errors by the planning group, including documentation of old rules after new rules were voted on and in effect. Although the city found no wrongdoing on the part of the LJCPA’s appeal, former LJCPA president Joe LaCava took hint of the need to address the planning group’s operating procedures. Topics under review primarily involved LJCPA procedures on appeals, including considering draft appellate procedures, subjecting approved LJCPA operating procedures to review by the city, and clarifying the automatic appeal process to new applicants. The committee’s intent involves making the process clearer and more user-friendly to the applicant. One such idea to clarify procedures to the applicant, especially those who have never before submitted development plans to the LJCPA, is to make known the process of the automatic appeal prior to an applicant’s appointment with a city hearing officer. An automatic appeal occurs if a city hearing officer approves a project that had been denied by consensus vote by the LJCPA and the hearing officer’s approval falls outside of the time frame of the next LJCPA meeting. If the approval does not fall outside of the time frame of the next LJCPA meeting, the decision to appeal is voted on during the next meeting, giving the applicant a second chance for the planning association’s approval. In order to prevent an automatic appeal by the La Jolla planning committee, an applicant can set a date with a city hearing officer within the time frame of the next LJCPA meeting. “We have to work with the applicant,” said ad hoc committee member Laura Ducharme Conboy, suggesting the need to give applicants a second chance to gain re-approval by the planning association after their project has been denied the first time. “We must make known on the CPA website what applicants should be prepared for before going to a subcommittee,” she said. The committee said it would hold another meeting to solidify discussions and complete suggested motions prior to making recommendations to the LJCPA during its regularly scheduled meeting today, June 2.