Council studies adding level

Laguna Beach is looking at adding more parking downtown.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman was deserted by her usual supporters Tuesday when she endorsed a proposal to study the feasibility of tacking another story onto the Glenneyre Street Parking Structure.

The council voted 4-1 to appropriate $40,000 to fund a conceptual plan and a rough estimate of the cost to add the third story, despite a barrage of opposition. The item was placed on the agenda by City Manager Ken Frank without a mention of Iseman.

“Ken is protecting me,” Iseman said. “This is my idea. I would rather have another level of parking over concrete.”

However, Iseman’s proposal was opposed by some of her most loyal supporters. Virtually every member of the public who spoke on the item panned the concept and some even objected to the study.

“I am strongly opposed to adding another level to the Glenneyre Parking Structure and do not feel it is expedient of appropriate at this time to spend up to $40,000 for a conceptual plan study,” Charlotte Masarik said. “The building was never designed for three stories.

“The mass and scale of a third story would be substantial and very costly, and the view issues would be contentious.”

Mayor Pro Tem Cheryl Kinsman voted against the study for aesthetic reasons.

“I think this would be really ugly,” she said.

Attorney Gene Gratz, often at odds with Iseman, said it couldn’t hurt to take a look at the concept.

The parking structure was built about 20 years ago. It holds about 220 parking spaces on two levels, accessed from Glenneyre Street. Former Mayor Ann Christoph designed the landscaping.

“I worked on Glenneyre Street in 1983, and I remember the council discussion about not wanting a third level,” Christoph said.

Iseman saw her proposal as a tool to get downtown employees to stop taking parking spaces on the prime shopping and entertainment streets. It was estimated that a third level would add 90 to 100 spaces that could be leased to business people, merchants and their employees, pulling them away from on-street metered spaces and out of the residential neighborhoods.

“A better idea would be to get the employees to park outside of downtown,” former Design Review Board and Planning Commission member Barbara Metzgar said.

Mayor Jane Egly favors getting employees’ cars off of downtown streets, but doesn’t see much progress.

“The council has taken several steps to try to force employees out of the downtown,” Egly said. “We opened up 130 spaces in the in the [city] employees lot, and we are having trouble filling it. And we still have a problem on Forest Avenue.

“I would like to look at this [proposal] if we take all the cars off of Forest.”

However, the California Coastal Commission requires replacement spaces.

Village Laguna founder Arnold Hano said parking issues go beyond spaces.

“You have to get there, and you can’t,” he said.

Iseman and Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson are staunch supporters of peripheral parking. They have made attempts to locate sites in the north and south ends of town to encourage day trippers to use the city’s free trolleys, during Festival Season and on weekends, year-round.

Pearson supported the estimated $40,000 study, but not at the expense of the Village Entrance parking project.

“You can either use the money to bring more cars downtown or to buy more trams,” Heritage Committee member Bonnie Hano said.

Masarik said the more parking provided downtown the more likely drivers will seek spaces there.

“Remember the Field of Dreams?” South Laguna resident Tom Osborne said. “If you build it, they will come.”

Chamber of Commerce spokesman Pat Barry said they are already here.

BARBARA DIAMOND can be reached at (949) 494-4321 or [email protected].