OUR LAGUNA: City touts its accomplishments

City Hall recently issued a list of key accomplishments from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006. One of my personal favorites didn’t make the cut.

The new stop sign installed at the corner of Oak and Glenneyre Streets caught me by surprise. In fact, I ran it until the city plunked down a sawhorse with an admonishment in the intersection. But the day the sawhorse was gone, I regressed, as did many fellow motorists.

Then one day, as I was cruising down Glenneyre, I was stopped dead in my tracks. The city has attached a bright red plastic strip to the pole of the sign. You couldn’t miss it. No more excuses — and far less chance of getting T-boned in the intersection after failing to stop at the sign. The same eye-catching strip has been installed on a stop sign on Lower Cliff Drive and maybe elsewhere that I haven’t yet run across — you should excuse the expression.

“We only put them up where visibility might be a problem,” city Public Works Director Steve May said.

Five categories of accomplishments were listed by the city for the last fiscal year: community development, public facilities, public safety, miscellaneous and the Bluebird Canyon Landslide.

“The whole Bluebird Canyon effort was remarkable,” said Planning Commissioner Anne Johnson, who served as aide de camp in the efforts on behalf of the displaced property owners by then-Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider.

“Getting everyone out without the loss of lives was amazing. That wasn’t just a few homeowners, that was an entire neighborhood.”

Johnson commended the city officials, staff and residents for pulling together, from rescue to restoration.

“It exemplifies the very best of the city, including the people who stepped up the plate to pass the sales tax increase when many of them were hurting,” Johnson said.

In attorney Gene Gratz’s opinion, the most outstanding accomplishment was the implementation of changes to the design review process, as recommended by the task force on which Gratz served as vice chair.

“I think if we can make the recommendations fully effective, it will be the most far-ranging change in life in Laguna’s history,” Gratz said.

The changes were one of 10 accomplishments under the heading of community development.

Also listed:

Environmentalists had several accomplishments to cheer about in the 2005-’06 list.

“The acquisition of the 32 parcels in Arch Beach Heights for permanent open space was a very good purchase,” said Mary Fegraus, executive director of the Laguna Canyon Foundation.

The foundation actually negotiated the city’s purchase of the Decker parcel in Laguna Canyon, using Coastal Conservancy funds.

Also of interest to environmentalists: the $398,000 grant to partner with Newport Beach to create watershed management plans for protecting the three major ecological preserves along the coast, including Heisler Park; and the application for an $800,000 grant to reduce water pollution from park. The city has completed the design phase and obtained approvals for the restoration of the park.

“The park project isn’t in our purview, but environmentalists in general have to be pleased,” Fegraus said.

Bluebelt environmentalists can rejoice in their successful effort to get the city to hire a new marine protection officer.

“It was critical for the tide pools,” said Arts Commissioner Joan Corman, who teaches a watercolor and tide pool journaling class at Montage Resort & Spa in conjunction with the Tide Pool Docent program and funded by the Laguna Outreach Community Artists.

With the exception of medical staff, nobody in Laguna Beach was happier about Adventist Health’s decision not to sell South Coast Medical Center than City Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman — well, maybe Assistant City Manager John Pietig, who worked closely with Kinsman on ways to accomplish the continued operation of the hospital.

The city reveled in a year without a single beach closure from a sewer spill. Another accomplishment was the notification to 450 property owners of problems in their lines, discovered during videotaping of sewer mains.

If Pearson-Schneider had to pick one accomplishment above all others, it would be getting the Federal Emergency Management Agency to overturn its initial decision not to fund landslide repairs in Bluebird Canyon — for which she worked with unflagging energy, tapping every resource, including the welcome clout of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

However, Pearson-Schneider and Councilwoman Toni Iseman can point with pride to their successful joint effort to obtain all approvals for the relocation of the city’s maintenance yard to Act V in Laguna Canyon, a project that had been stalled for more than a decade.

A contract has been awarded and surplus city lots on Olive and Poplar streets were sold for $7.3 million to help pay for the relocation and some open-space acquisitions. Audrey Prosser, who represented the city in the sale, and Mark Christy, who represented the buyers, declined fees, which means more money in the city coffers.

Among the accomplishments listed as miscellaneous:

Public Facilities Accomplishments included:

Storm drain and sewer projects also figured prominently in the city’s accomplishments:

Listed as safety accomplishments:

The Fire Department accomplished a lot in the last fiscal year: