La Jolla Light
Enlightening La Jolla Since 1913
Vol. 100, Issue 31 • August 2, 2012
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID SAN DIEGO, CA PERMIT NO. 1980
Coyote confirmed as Fay Ave. cat killer
INSIDE
Bird Rock summer festival coming Aug. 11, A8
Online Daily at www.lajollalight.com
Residential Customer La Jolla, CA 92037 ECRWSS
By Pat Sherman What appeared to be the vivisected body of a brown and black cat was discovered on a residential lawn in the 7300 block of Fay Avenue July 25, in the vicinity of the Gillispie School. Matt Doyle said his wife discovered the feline while walking to her car. “It looked like the cat had just been
cut in half,” he said. “It didn’t look like there had been any kind of struggle, just two halves of a cat thrown in our yard. “My wife was pretty spooked by it,” Doyle added. “It’s quite a shocking way to start the day.”
SEE COYOTE, A7
Coyotes prefer easy prey, such as small cats and dogs. FILE FILE
Misty Morning
This seagull fell out of its nest and onto an apartment deck.
La Jollan saves injured baby seagull Community Center short $70,000 for renovations, A14
BY SHELLI DEROBERTIS When Marcella Katz found herself suddenly parenting a trio of baby seagulls that had fallen from their nest onto the deck at her apartment on the 600 block of Prospect Street in mid-July, she used a Christmas wreath to contain the birds and was successful in saving at least one until help arrived. One seagull immediately See Seagull, A5
Luau & Longboard Invitational back for its 19th year, A16
Tacos bring neighbors together in La Jolla Shores, B1
Here in mid-summer comes a fun, little photo of the fog moving out of La Jolla on Tuesday, July 24. —Greg Wiest
Residents give city a failing ‘grade’ in Archer Street rebuild By Pat Sherman Residents in the 700 block of Archer Street (behind Bird Rock Elementary School) say city officials are allowing a neighbor to rebuild a home on their street in excess of height and size limits for its lot size. Chief among their concerns is the architect’s use of a manufactured grade to exempt 500 square feet of the home’s ground level from being counted as part of the structure’s gross floor area, thus allowing it to exceed size and height limits. Steve Sillman, who lives directly to the east of the construction site, said the halfcompleted home has robbed him and his family of coastal views and ocean breezes — all due to what he believes is a questionable interpretation of the city’s municipal code.
Bill Gaylord
Sam Hansen
Branch Manager NMLS #680603
Branch Manager NMLS #632837
858-776-6830
858-442-1232
bgaylord@gatewayfunding.com
shansen@gatewayfunding.com
“They blocked all our views from our bedroom, from our bathroom and our forward bedroom,” Sillman said. “We purchased our house in 2006 and, obviously, it’s already gone down (in value) because of the recession. We’re fine with that; we made that decision. But now we’ve got a house next door that’s depreciated our house even more and basically circumvented the code to do it.” The portion of the municipal code under scrutiny, 113.0234(b)(3), states: “Where the gradient along any edge of the at-grade space is greater than 25 percent, the unenclosed at-grade space shall not be counted as gross floor area.” Steve Sillman stands on the deck of his rear guesthouse on According to Sillman and others, this Archer Street, with his neighbors’ ongoing development in See House, A13 the background. Pat Sherman photo
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