City weighs safety, privacy in improvements to Top of the World Drive

Top of the World Drive has been a private road since 1928, and some residents of the hilltop neighborhood want to keep it that way. They like the serenity.

But even at the risk of increasing foot traffic, for safety reasons these same people want the city to shore up a dirt path that is plagued by erosion though still used by thrill-seeking cyclists, children going to school and others wanting quick access to nearby neighborhood.

The Laguna Beach City Council will hold a public hearing Jan. 6 on whether to allow the city to take ownership of the road and widen a 300-foot portion of it by 4 feet. The work would allow better public access to the trail, which connects to a public fire road linking the neighborhood to Arch Beach Heights.

The Planning Commission in November approved trail improvements and the widening of a portion of Top of the World Drive from 16 to 20 feet. Now it is up to the council to act on that recommendation.

Steve and Kelly Goldstein moved into their house on Shady Place more than a year ago and are concerned that the neighborhood could lose its tranquil charm if the improvements draw more cars to the area.

Steve Goldstein said Monday as he walked along the road that he is not happy about the road widening. “But I’m not surprised,” he said.

The city wants to provide legal access to the trail by taking ownership of the 300-foot portion of Top of the World Drive and bringing its width up to city standards, project manager Wade Brown said.

A majority of the trail, which wraps around homes in the gated Sommet Du Monde neighborhood and links to a fire access road on county land, currently sits on private property.

Children use the trail to walk to Top of the World Elementary School, though residents say sections are steep.

Part of the trail crosses undeveloped property owned by Jerry Sebag at 28901 Top of the World Drive. The city is negotiating with Sebag, who lives on Sommet Du Monde, to get permission via an easement to make trail improvements, which would include adding decomposed granite, asphalt and pervious concrete.

Sebag is also trying to subdivide the land into two 12,000-square-foot parcels, said Greg Vail, Sebag’s project manager.

Some residents said they are worried that the proposed road widening might be linked to future development on Sebag’s property and that the neighborhood is at the mercy of the outcome of any negotiation.

But Vail said the proposed road widening and trail improvements are not connected to the subdivision request.

“The fact that they are coming at the same time gives the impression that they are connected, as if the city is being obligated to do something. After all is said and done, the city may not approve the subdivision.

“If [the road] didn’t have to be widened, [Sebag] would not mind keeping it the way it is. He is concerned about the quality of life up there as anyone else.”

Goldstein said a simpler approach would be adding a pedestrian opening at the gate leading to the Sommet Du Monde neighborhood.

” “[Sebag], who lives behind the gate on a private street and refuses to let anyone pass, wants the city to take over another private street and widen it,” Goldstein said.

Vail said the entire neighborhood of Sommet Du Monde has control over the gate, not Sebag.

At the Nov. 12 Planning Commission meeting, Commissioner Norm Grossman had asked whether opening the gate on Sommet Du Monde was considered.

“It would be a difficult and expensive process to try to get access to,” Brown replied at the time. “When the Sommet De Monde tract was approved, there were specific instructions in the tract map that it was not for public access, that it was a private road and access was for emergency vehicles only.

“It’s no different than there are gated communities in Three Arch Bay, Monarch Beach and other areas. This is a gated community with private roads and no public access.”

The Goldsteins, who enjoy walking their kids to school every morning, favor shoring up the trail in certain sections, but don’t want the entrance off Top of the World Drive to become a draw for outsiders.

“People see an opportunity to develop and want to throw lots into it such as landscaping,” Kelly Goldstein said. “You don’t need it. For over 50 years people have been able to find the trail.”