Mailbag: Laguna Realtors support The Ranch

The Ranch at Laguna Beach is in the midst of an environmentally sensitive restoration project that was appealed to the California Coastal Commission.

Resolution of this type of appeal can take months, or years. It could force unwarranted long-term delays or even stop the sale, renovation or construction of any property near the ocean and any mapped watercourse or open space. As such, the Laguna Board of Realtors lends its support to The Ranch at Laguna Beach restoration project.

In the opinion of the Laguna Board of Realtors, The Ranch restoration restores a decades-neglected property — formerly known as Aliso Creek Inn — while incorporating modern functionality required by the building/safety code and guests of any similar facility. When touring the property we observed, discussed and learned the following:

• This restoration project is not building a new resort, but rather restoring the original hotel buildings in original building footprints.

• The appealed portion of work was unanimously approved by the Planning Commission and entails an 11,000-plus-foot reduction in the structures.

• This restoration project voluntarily converts the hotel landscape irrigation to recycled water, using drought-tolerant and native plants. It accomplishes a variety of long-overdue landscape and grounds-maintenance projects under the supervision of ecologists.

We believe this project deserves the Laguna Beach community’s help and support. It has been enthusiastically supported by several Laguna Beach organizations, including SchoolPower — Laguna Beach Education Foundation, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Ocean Foundation, One World/One Ocean, Pacific Marine Mammal Center, The Ocean Institute, and the Laguna Plein Air Painters Assn.

Suzanne Taylor,

President Laguna Board of Realtors and Affiliates

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Iseman understands balance Laguna needs

Thanks to Councilwoman Toni Iseman for deciding to run the gauntlet again as a candidate for our Laguna Beach City Council.

She is the only one left who most represents traditional Laguna residents — those of us who care about quality of life over quantity of income, who cringe every time we see a beautiful old property scraped or divided to build another mini-mansion, and who see boutiques and trendy restaurants come and go every few months. We’ve been around awhile and we remember.

We still love Laguna and don’t oppose business. We miss those businesses owned and operated by locals who used to serve the residents, and we patronize those who still do.

We understand the reality of our unique environment, its attraction for visitors and the positive financial resources tourism has on our small town. There need not be wide divides between quality of life, a healthy environment and a sustainable local economy. These are compatible values.

But the balance has tilted, the divide grows and the values get scrambled. If Laguna is to retain its identity as a livable, beautiful community with all its diversity, we need to stand up and support those values equally.

Iseman has done that for a long time, and I’m glad she’s still willing to fight the good fight. We can keep the best of Laguna and still keep it alive and livable.

If not, I hope there’s someone left to turn out the lights.

Joan McFarland

Laguna Beach

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Fight should continue against drilling along coast

I never thought I would hear the words “Obama considers offshore oil drilling in the Pacific,” but I did in a video on Monday produced by The Hill ( “Obama opens rift with greens,” Aug. 11).

The last time I heard something similar coming out of Washington, back in 1985, I was defending the cities of San Clemente, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, and the Orange County Board of Supervisors, from a Ronald Reagan administration plan to do just that.

Thankfully, after numerous local GOP business titans quietly expressed their displeasure to the White House, and 22 Republican mayors emphatically opposed the idea during a public hearing in Newport, Donald Hodel — then the Secretary of the Interior — gave up the notion of opening Orange County’s coastline to massive oil drilling.

As I understand it, the Obama strategy calls for drilling in the Atlantic first, then the Arctic, and finally in the Pacific. The good news is if any of this actually happens, it won’t begin until 2017.

Energy development and consumption is very different today than it was 30 years ago. The U.S. is now allowing companies to export crude oil for the first time in four decades. My hope is this trend will continue without the need for new oil drilling along Orange County’s coastline.

Denny Freidenrich

The Laguna Beach resident was a former congressional staff assistant.

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Ways to ease delivery service in Laguna Beach

The large crane accident July 26 on Rounsevel Terrace gave me something to think about: What is the responsibility of the homeowner in terms of preventing or mitigating such happenings? Nobody was prepared, nobody was aware and many people were seriously inconvenienced for 30 hours — either in their home or unable to enter homes.

The owner of the crane might have chosen a smaller crane or had an extra helper, or maybe a more experienced driver, with this delivery. This is not the first time we have had such accidents where oversized vehicles have created traffic hazards — the cement truck that overturned on Bluebird Canyon Drive is one.

Perhaps if the homeowner discussed delivery issues with the vendor and delivery people, and warned neighbors, this could have ended differently.

We know that our streets are narrow, have steep inclines or go downhill with sharp turns. We know which streets are dead ends, and if there are driveways to turn vehicles around.

With this in mind I offer some suggestions:

• Let delivery service companies, tree trimmers and other such businesses know when it is trash day on your street. I have seen trash truck drivers perplexed when they see these large vehicles blocking parts of streets.

• Inform them about your street — brake failures are common. Be considerate and let these business know what they will encounter so that they can be prepared.

•Be nice and let as many people — preferably on both sides of street and for at least 10 houses on either side of you — on your street know if you are having a large vehicle potentially blocking part of the street. By coordinating this type of activity you can mitigate having unfriendly encounters, especially if one or more different types of large trucks will be using the street at the same time.

It is all about common courtesy, thinking ahead and being a good neighbor.

Ganka Brown

Laguna Beach