What I left out of my Laguna Canyon “Cross” Roads column in last week’s paper was a discussion of the Protect and Connect Survey completed in June 2024. The survey was two-fold: an online questionnaire and what was described as outreach to various “pop-up groups” throughout the city.
A total of 2,672 people responded to the online survey. In response to a question about key challenges when traveling along the corridor, an overwhelming 86% of respondents mentioned congestion. Of the 18% “other” category, congestion again headlined the list.
In a more open-ended part of the survey, respondents were asked for thoughts on how to improve the corridor. A total of 1,777 respondents offered suggestions, which were summarized into seven categories. Maintaining Laguna’s character came first, while undergrounding utilities for safety and aesthetics appeared as number five.
Concepts, features and themes were presented to six pop-up locations, plus a business group and a community workshop. In total, 456 residents attended the sessions, with 131 (29%) using the “sticky dots” provided to express support for undergrounding. A cursory review of the 1,777 respondents to the open-ended question on how to improve the corridor suggests about the same 30% rate, which correlates with the item appearing as number five out of seven in the summary list.
The survey summary concluded that safety emerged as a priority, citing concerns about the dangerous conditions on the canyon road, specifically cars that speed when there’s no traffic. Many expressed concerns about cyclists and pedestrians that would be out of the proposed pathways.
The project cost was cited as the most identified concern. Residents want to know how the project will be funded, how Caltrans and the utility companies will be involved, and how the cost will affect them.
Somehow, from all this data, the summary report concludes that “in terms of preferences around initial project features shared with the community, overwhelming support was seen for undergrounding utilities, with few opposing.” With the ranking of undergrounding at five out of seven and the 30% response rate in the pop-up groups, I certainly didn’t read the detailed survey results that way.
In any future survey, information about what the project will cost and how it will be funded must be provided to respondents. Otherwise, the survey may provide an interesting wish list, but the results won’t provide a basis for informed decision-making.
Mary Locatelli, Laguna Beach
