Students at La Jolla High School will put their silver-screen talents to the test with the school’s annual event that showcases the best and brightest of LJHS’ budding filmmakers — the La Jolla High School Film Festival. Taking place May 17 in the school’s Parker Auditorium, the festival will screen eight to 12 student films all vying for recognition in several categories, including Best Overall, Most Creative, Audience Award and Technical Award. Prizes include GoPro cameras, cash, trophies and more. Festival director Matt Twohig said entries must adhere to certain guidelines. All films must be 10 minutes or shorter in length and, to give filmmakers a common symbol to tie submissions together, each film must include at least one brown paper bag. Twohig, a senior bound for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, said finding the right object to incorporate in every film was a tricky task. “We were toying with the idea of using a hammer for a short while, but discarded it because we were worried there wouldn’t be much diversity among the films,” Twohig said. “One afternoon my father and I were literally looking around the house for the most random item we could find. I’ll admit, when he pointed to the paper bag on the kitchen counter I instantly shot the idea down. Then he ripped two holes for eyes and put it over his head, and I knew we had found our item.” Twohig said the purpose for requiring that films incorporate the use of a central symbol is twofold. “On an administrative level, it ensures that films are produced within the time frame we give,” he said. “Creatively, it provides a challenge for the filmmakers. It also gives the audience something to look for. I noticed last year that the film festival audience paid very close attention to how each filmmaker incorporated the item into their story.” The bag, Twohig said, need not be a central feature or even play a large role in the films, but filmmakers “should have to put serious consideration into how they incorporate the brown paper bag.” Just how seriously filmmakers took that recommendation could reap real rewards: there’s a prize category titled Best Use of the Brown Paper Bag. Though the school offers a video production class, Twohig said the majority of submissions have come from students not enrolled in the class, making for greater diversity in the films. Meanwhile, the loose guidelines have further assured that no two films are alike — in fact, submissions range from music videos and comedies to documentaries, dramas and more. “Some have very serious underlying messages and some take a much lighter approach,” Twohig said. The La Jolla High School Film Festival will take place on May 17 at 7 p.m. at Parker Auditorium, 750 Nautilus St. Sponsors of this year’s event include GoPro, Ezekiel and Bird Rock Surf Shop. For up-to-date information, visit www.facebook.com/LJHSFilmFest.

A panel of experts came together at St. James by-the-Sea on April 25 for an informational panel discussion titled “La Jollans Knickers in a Knot,” explaining the history one of La Jolla’s most significant land use documents — the La Jolla Planned District Ordinance (PDO). The creation of the PDO, which tailors zoning regulations in La Jolla’s Village center, was a product of the community’s frustration over the movement toward large, blocky office buildings that was trending in the 1980s. Due to a combination of economic pressures, La Jolla became a prestigious location to construct office buildings at that time. Out-of-date 1934 zoning ordinances, however, did not arm the community with much to protect itself from the fast-moving urban development condition. To add to the challenge, the California Coastal Commission was insistent on maintaining parking ratios. The result of this mandate increased pressures on developers to make room for parking lots by demolishing existing buildings and maxing out office space to generate sufficient funds to pay for their required parking. The impacts on La Jolla were threefold, said former city staff member and PDO author Angeles Leira. First were the dramatic changes to the scale and character of La Jolla’s buildings; second, the loss of community-serving uses; and finally, the start of a transformation of La Jolla’s once low-scale traditional downtown Village into a high-end office center. The genesis of the PDO development process began when La Jolla resident Sue Oxley showed up at Leira’s desk airing concern about the rapidly changing face of La Jolla and asking what could be done to counter it. Six months later, Oxley appeared before the City Council wielding a petition with 98,000 signatures and an entourage of community members in opposition to the bulky office buildings, effectively launching the Ban Large Office Buildings (BLOB) movement. “The council then responded,” said Leira. “The first thing they did was issue an emergency ordinance reducing the density by half, but the emergency ordinance would only be good for a year, so they directed city staff to come up with a solution.” Leira met faithfully with about 20 members from the community workforce — ranging from architects and developers to community advocates and city employees — all working to shape community development. “We wanted to really try to come to a consensus and fix it for everybody. No one was dismissed. Everybody had a say, and we found more things in common than not,” Leira said. “In that manner, we completed the ordinance and went to the City Council for adoption in nine months, which was a record.” The ordinance was unanimously approved by the City Council, adopted by the Planning Commission and eventually by the Coastal Commission. The final PDO reflected the community’s fondness for light-colored, lower-density buildings using natural building materials. It also mitigated concerns about view blockage, the proliferation of office uses and unused parking structures, and streetscape development encroachments. After working with the document for many years, the PDO Advisory Committee, whose members included current La Jolla Community Planning Association trustee Bob Collins, decided a few modifications to the PDO were needed. “It was a very thoughtful document, and it was interesting to work with it, but in doing so, we found that there were a few refinements that were needed,” Collins said. “About 10 years ago, we put together 24 changes that we felt needed to be incorporated into the PDO.” Although the revisions were written, supported by the community and approved by all the planning groups, the document effectively died when it went to the city. “A lot of good, hard spadework was done by every organization in La Jolla, but we’re still waiting,” he said. Leira said with the right combination of people in power, the revisions can be pushed through the city if the community wants it badly enough. “It’s not that difficult to process the changes,” she said. “If we have [the city’s] cooperation, then pretty soon, you are working with staff, doing the changes, going to the Planning Commission, going to [City] Council and it’s done. It can be done. But you need the combination of people in power. If you don’t have it then you are out of luck. This is the time to do it.” Even in the 10 years since the revisions were made, La Jolla has undergone many changes. For starters, the PDO was altered to incorporate citywide zoning code updates in 2000, which allowed certain projects to skip community review altogether. “In the city’s estimation, a Process One now is a ‘redevelopment by right,’ meaning all you have to do is show you’re meeting the code,” said Ione Steigler, current PDO Advisory Committee chairwoman. “They believe they can process at the city all the permits that meet their interpretation of the PDO without having to discuss them with us.” Amid her committee’s frustration, Steigler learned that while her committee was not responsible for reviewing all projects beforehand, it could go about enforcing the PDO when projects were in violation. “[City Associate Planner] Chris Larson told us that our right was that if something did go in wrong that we could then enforce it,” said Steigler. “We really don’t want to be punitive. We want to be helpful — advisory — to the community.” Every panel member opined that the community is, in fact, better off for having come together years ago to draft the PDO. Still — whether through lack of enforcement, difficulty in amending the document or dealing with a frustrating revision to the process — many also indicated there is room for improvement. The question now: is it worth it?