CITY COUNCIL WRAP-UP

The following is from the Laguna Beach City Council meeting of July 10. Councilman Kelly Boyd was absent.

COUNCIL/STAFF CHAT

The county is proceeding with the addition of a bicycle lane to the roadway between El Toro Road and the San Joaquin Hills toll road and another right turn lane at the road’s intersection with El Toro Road. Overhead utility lines are being removed.

CONSENT CALENDAR

EDITOR’S NOTE: Consent calendar items are approved in one motion unless a member of the council, staff or public “pull” the item, which then requires opening it for public comment and a separate vote.Approved without comment:

1. Request the relocation of the OCTA bus stop on the southwest corner of N. Coast Highway at Cliff Drive to the northwest corner;

2. Install a stop sign on westbound West Street at Monterey Street; and

3. Impose parking restrictions for 20 feet on all eight corners of Mountain Road at Catalina Street; direction to staff to install single center line striping on Ocean View from the existing painted island at Monterey Street to 100 feet along Ocean View; and staff direction to install single center line striping on Alta Loma from the existing painted island at Holly Drive to 100 feet along Alta Loma.

RVS TO THE REAR 4-0

The council approved a Municipal Code amendment to require an administrative use permit to park recreational vehicles that are 20 feet long and six feet tall in back yards of residentially zoned properties.

Changes are to be forwarded to the California Coastal Commission for certification.

DEVELOPMENT FEES HIKED 4-0

Fees will be increased starting Oct. 1, for the first time since July 1, 2004. A review of the building department’s revenue in 2006-07, compared to its anticipated expensed in 2007-08, indicated a 9% shortfall if fees had stayed the same.

ACT V ANNEXATION 4-0

Annexation of the ACT V parcel in Laguna Canyon required the city to pre-zone the property. The council voted to amend the zoning from the county’s Tourist Commercial Planning Area to the city’s “Institutional” zoning designation.

The Institutional Zone provides for public, quasi-public and private institutional facilities, including civic, government and public utility buildings; educational, philanthropic and charitable institutions; child care, nurseries and pre-schools; public/private parks and playgrounds and long-term, low-income residential units.

Staff was directed to add an amendment to the boundaries and zoning in the Downtown Specific plan to the Planning Commission’s list of special projects.

DESIGN RECONSIDERATION 4-0

The council returned a project to the Design Review Board for reconsideration of its 3-2 denial of a permit to build a new 3,596 square-foot, single-family resident and attached two-car garage at 703 Nyes Place.

The board was directed to take into consideration the council’s comments on the project and comments made at the board’s May 3 meeting.

HEDGING PRIVACY 4-0

The council overturned the design board’s 4-1, retroactive legalization of modifications to a prior approval, made without a permit, including walls and terraces in the back yard and a hedge.

As approved by the council, the back terrace was limited to an elevation of 102.5 and hedges and fences to six feet.

Staff was directed to review the fines for the alleged nonpermitted construction, which the applicant said totaled $30,000.