Council discusses restoring views

Barbara Diamond

Property owners who want enforcement of a view restoration ordinance

will have to prove popular support for it before the City Council

will enact it.

The council removed consideration of the hotly debated proposed

ordinance from the Planning Commission projects at a joint meeting

Saturday at City Hall. The city already has a view preservation

ordinance on the books.

“We have a clear view on preservation,” Councilman Wayne Baglin

said. “I am hesitant to move ahead [on restoration] until we know

where we are going. There is a certain element in town that won’t be

satisfied with anything different from they want.

“They want us to be the fall guys and do the enforcement,” he

said. “Do we want that?”

Suddenly, after years of debate, the answer was no, unless the

majority of residents voted for it.

“Put it on the ballot,” Baglin said.

The vote was 4 to 1, Mayor Cheryl Kinsman opposed.

“I don’t think we should do anything on the spur of the moment

because of unintended consequences,” Kinsman said. “You need to

carefully research decisions when you are making them for the

citizens.”

She supports restoration.

“I think the council had the right idea,” City Manager Ken Frank

said. “This is so controversial that people ought to vote on it. It

just makes sense.”

The first step would be the gathering of signatures on petitions,

as Laguna Greenbelt Inc. did to get an open space ordinance into the

city’s municipal code. It would take signatures of 10% -- estimated at about 1,600 -- registered voters to get the issue on the November

ballot, if collected and verified by July 13

“It takes a lot more work than most people imagine to properly

word and process an initiative,” City Clerk Verna Rollinger said.

Progress on the commission review of the land use element, a noise

element and the budget for the commission’s training, books and

meetings also were discussed at the meeting.

CITY COUNCIL/DESIGN

REVIEW BOARD MEETING

Training for new members was a hot topic between the Design Review

Board members and the council at their joint meeting, also held

Saturday.

“We should train new members and update veterans,” board member

Ilse Lenschow said. “It is difficult to make decision without the

background. The difference between guidelines and the code needs to

be explained.”

Guidelines are what may be built properly and how, not necessarily

what the city will approve for construction, which may differ

greatly.

Zoning administrator John Tilton has offered workshops to board

members before the weekly public meetings and he encourages newcomers

to accompany veteran board members to review the sites or proposed

projects.

Applicants for the board are expected to attend meetings to

familiarize themselves with what is entailed.

Baglin said that the Architectural Guild would probably be happy

to help establish training methods for newcomers. Architects don’t

relish having their designs changed.

“With all due respect, we would have bigger, uglier homes without

us,” board member Suzanne Morrison said.

Morrison also said that Realtors give home buyers false

expectations of what can be done with property in Laguna.

“A Realtor promised me and my husband that we could do anything we

wanted,” Morrison said.

The Realtor told her there are ways to get around any

restrictions.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman reiterated a long-standing complaint

about lack of enforcement.

Morrison suggested that a time penalty rather than a fine might be

more effective. People in Laguna Beach are affluent and can afford

the fines, but a two-month halt in construction might be more of an

incentive to obey the rules, according to Morrison.

The board also requested more participation in the Village

Entrance project.

“It would be great if we could put our two cents worth in on the

project,” board member Eve Plumb said. Other than that, Plumb would

be happy to give up reviewing public works projects.

“We used to [review] signs except for Downtown,” Plumb said. “All

of a sudden, the Planning Commission was doing all signs.” Joint

meetings are held at least once a year, to let the council exchange

information with the advisory boards.