OUR LAGUNA: Building, development focus of meeting

City officials gave the public a glimpse of the future of development in Laguna Beach at a five-hour meeting Saturday — not that there was much public there to catch it.

The joint meeting of the City Council, Planning Commissioners and Design Review Board members is an annual affair at which issues with far-reaching implications are explored, some of them potentially divisive. This year, there were a couple of lulus — including a comparison of Laguna’s definition of a bluff top with the much more restrictive California Coastal Commission’s and whether the city should stiffen its code, which would impact the size and location of oceanfront homes.

“The council decided more than 10 years ago to keep its definition because of the complications and threats of litigation, which was a big issue in the council elections in the 1990s,” Planning Commission Chair Norm Grossman said.

Coastal rules versus city rules on bluff sites

The Coastal Commission definition would reduce the buildable area of some lots and the consequent size of the home to be constructed or remodeled.

“In some cases, an owner couldn’t even build on the same footprint if the city’s definition were changed,” Grossman said.

The change would mostly be felt by property owners who wanted to remodel their oceanfront homes.

“The city is essentially built out so the major impact would be on remodels — if it is more than 50% [of existing square footage] it would have to meet the new code,” said John Montgomery, director of the city’s Community Development Department.

“It is definitely a Pandora’s Box.”

Design Review Board Chairwoman Caren Liuzzi said if the city’s definition isn’t changed remodels will continue to follow the pattern of development established 30 or 40 years ago.

“How are you going to tell someone they will have to cut off half of their house?” asked Design Review Board member and architect Leslie LeBon.

The answer may come when the council holds a public hearing on the issue, tentatively set for the Feb. 17 meeting.

“This is the most exciting thing I have heard,” South Laguna resident Armando Baez said. “Compliance with the Coastal Commission would get significant support from residents.”

Perhaps not, if the resident happens to live on a bluff.

The format for Saturday’s meeting was planned to be less rigid than the regular council meetings, with all the participants seated on one level and comments by council, commissioners, board members and the public to come at the end of the agenda.

However, former Councilwoman Ann Christoph wanted public testimony taken after each item, per the Brown Act.

Mayor Jane Egly preferred to stick to the published agenda, but was informed that she had to accede to Christoph’s demand.

There wasn’t much public to take advantage of the opportunity. Only nine people showed up for the meeting, including recently elected Councilwoman Verna Rollinger and some of her supporters.

Special projects get prioritization

The Planning Commission’s list of special projects, which are reviewed annually and prioritized, topped the meeting agenda.

“It is always valuable for the Planning Commission to meet with the council and other boards to share thoughts and ideas,” Grossman said. “But for me, the most important part of the meeting was the prioritization.”

Among the projects bumped up on the list for next year: a construction completion bond, sponsored by Iseman; an update on shoreline protection guidelines; and sidewalk construction.

However, the construction of the Lifeguard Headquarters on Main Beach is anticipated to be the city’s major project in 2009.

“We are looking at 3,000-square-foot and 5,000-square-foot alternatives to 4,500 square feet,” Montgomery said.

A no-project alternative also will be included.

The need for the larger headquarters has been questioned by Rollinger, who will take her seat on the council in December.

Egly and Iseman also have voiced concerns about the largest size, which is still smaller than the lifeguards want.

Laguna Terrace subdivision possible

Montgomery surprised many of the meeting participants when he announced the possible subdivision of Laguna Terrace, which would allow the sale of parcels to the mobile home owners.

“There could be problems if the present tenants could not afford the land,” Montgomery said. “Laguna Terrace [redevelopment] will take a long time, based on our experience with Montage.”

Montgomery referred to the drawn-out and painful closing of Treasure Island Mobilehome Park, eventually replaced by Montage Resort and Spa.

The 500-pound gorilla on the horizon, otherwise known as the Aliso Creek Redevelopment Area project, is on a slower than expected track.

“It’s moving at a glacial pace,” Grossman said.

And groups in town have already chosen sides. The Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn. supports it, but Rollinger backers oppose it — especially the plan’s residential component, without which knowledgeable observers say the project wouldn’t pencil out.

“Residential development will provide public benefits, including 250 acres of open space and new public trails,” said Joan Gladstone, Athens Group spokeswoman, who declined to comment directly on whether the residential component was a deal breaker.

Design Board vies with Planning Commission

Saturday’s meeting included another skirmish in the continuing turf war between the Design Review Board and the Planning Commission.

At present, the commission reviews all projects in the Downtown Specific Plan Areas residential or commercial and the board reviews the projects in the rest of the city.

“I think commercial buildings throughout the city should be handled by the commission,” Commissioner Anne Johnson said. “The commission deals all the time with conditional use permits; traffic, land use and American Disabilities Act issues; and zoning compatibility — which includes specific plans. The board’s mission is different.”

Board members had a different take.

“We have the expertise in design review,” said veteran board member Ilse Lenschow.

Montgomery opined that projects that require an environmental impact report or a conditional use permit should have the design reviewed by the same board.

Former board and commission member Barbara Metzger suggested that the board could function much like the Heritage Committee, rendering an opinion, without obligating the commission to uphold it.

Egly called for a truce. She proposed that the chairs of the commission and board get together and report back to the council. All appeals, of course, go to the council.

Christoph, who was dismayed by the council’s approval of play equipment at Alta Laguna Park, which she had originally designed, asked what recourse the public had when it disagreed with the council’s resolution of an appeal. Go to court, was the short answer from City Atty. Philip Kohn.

The final item was a brief report on the implementation of the Design Review Task Force recommendations, reported to be moving along.

OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, 92652; hand-deliver to Suite 22 in the Lumberyard, 384 Forest Ave.; call (949) 494-4321; fax (949) 494-8979 or e-mail [email protected].