Welcome to Laguna
Dateline: Monday, Aug. 19. Los Angeles Times headline: “Irvine has hottest housing market in U.S….13,000 new residents in last three years.”
In fact, Irvine has added some one million new residents in the last few decades, and, duh, the new hordes have hit the closest beach, Laguna. Laguna should have planned to mitigate the consequences, but it did not.
Worse, Laguna buried its head in the sand and hoped the whole emerging problem would… What? Go away?
Of course, it didn’t. In my opinion, Village Laguna killed any planning and any mitigation, preferring to stick Laguna’s collective head in the sand and hoping for the best. No plans, no infrastructure, no nothing.
However, one person tried, hard. Her name is Elizabeth Pearson, an 18-year veteran of our City Council and Planning Commission. In a recent Indy column she stated she was hired by Irvine to assess the impacts of the planned hordes on surrounding cities. Pearson concluded Laguna had to plan for it and advocated for a new Village Entrance and parking garage to relieve the impacts, stating, “…plans (for it) had been done, the cost estimated, funding and EIR (Environmental Impact Report) approved, and the projected voted on by the council. That was in 2013.” However, “The naysayers, led by Village Laguna and Toni Iseman started a community campaign to …” to kill it, and did. No entrance and no parking structure was built. Nothing. Nada.
Now we come to the present day, and have a new City Manager, Dave Kiff. He’s a pro with a great reputation for getting things done. In an extraordinary email dated Aug. 9 to Laguna residents, Mr. Kiff, after three months on the job, assessed the complexity of “getting things done” in Laguna and found that “We have a complex code and long review process. We had added important legal reviews…” and have “tried to up our game…” But, “Our counter staff feels a bit beaten and beat up…we have a hard time recruiting people and a hard time keeping them here once they start work and see what they have to deal with. It is not easy to work in Laguna. It’s easier to work…” elsewhere …” and therefore easy to lose people.”
In plain words, Laguna’s entire governmental system is overlaid with deliberately conflicting laws and codes, has an antiquated city code and is so frustrating to applicants that they take it out on city staffers, who sometimes leave weeping.
Mr. Kiff then tells you his goals: mainly to streamline the approval process and update our mess of a zoning code. He ends with, “I sincerely hope this period will pass…Right now, we’re fixing the plane as it’s flying (and it’s not flying too terribly high up).”
Hmmm. That’s interesting, coming slightly after the council held a three-hour “listening” session to encourage citizen complaints about anything they wished, and ended up being three hours off, well, complaining about the tourist hordes and jammed streets. Exactly as Ms. Pearson predicted.
Here comes Village Laguna, fresh off a Zoom meeting that discussed continuing to stop Laguna from doing anything, ever, including even still trying to reverse the only thing the town has accomplished after two decades of trying: the downtown Promenade, still claiming it hurts local businesses.
Sorry, Mr. Kiff. The same group that condemned us to the current mess, seems intent on killing any real mitigation and your intentions too.
Michael co-founded Orange County School of the Arts, The Discovery Cube, Sage Hill School, Art Spaces Irvine and several other area nonprofit organizations. He is a business partner with Sanderson-J. Ray Development and has lived in Laguna Beach since the early 1980s.
Mr. Ray, let’s use Your words, Elizabeth Pearson was “hired by Irvine to assess the impacts of the planned hordes on surrounding cities”. The question is quite simple, “Why” is it the liability of Laguna Beach Residents/Taxpayers to compensate for the City of Irvine’s overgrowth? The simple answer/truth is this, it is not the City of Laguna’s obligation to subsidize Irvine’s overbuild.
It is not the fault of Village Laguna or the residents of Laguna that our neighboring cities have added development on top of development on the boundary and borders of Laguna Beach. Hence, asking Us the Residents of Laguna Beach to underpin the cost of said developments is absurd. Once again, You have spoken as the “developer” that You are, and as always You are missing the point.
We the Residents of Laguna do not need another Parking Structure. We the Residents of Laguna do not want another Parking Structure. We the Residents of Laguna do not want to PAY for another Parking Structure.
As stated by many of Us the Residents, more Parking Structures will not improve the already unacceptable ingress or egress to Laguna by the “hordes” of which You speak. I would suggest that the City of Irvine build a Parking Structure on Irvine Land and provide the “hordes” with free or paid transport into Laguna Beach with their own Trolley Service. Hence, leaving their vehicles in Irvine where there is room to accommodate them. The beaches belong to all of Us, visitors and residents of Laguna together. It is however nonsensical to ask Us the Residents pay for the unchecked growth in our neighboring communities.
More Parking Structures (in Laguna) are not the answer, only a multiplication of the existing problem.
Mr. Ray seems to think that building a parking structure with 300 or perhaps 400 spaces will solve the overtourism problem or at least get us there. This is old thinking, and the evidence proves othewise. The principle of “induced demand” works just as well for parking as it does for expanding highways. Research has shows that building more parking or expanding roads will just bring in more visitors with impacts like more congestion, more evironmenal impacts, (noise and pollution), while lowering the quality of life for residents.
Laguna did recieve some millions in compensation for the impacts of the many thousands of housing units built close to Laguna’s borders in Irvine. What happened to that money. Did it go into the general fund? Does anyone know.
The only effective solution is to make cars to park outside the city limits and bus visitors in. in. At the VL candidate forum Mr. Whalen, for the first time, mentioned consideration for congestion pricing. I talked to Mr. Whalen about that a almost a year ago saying the only way to keep visitor from driving into the heart of Laguna is to toll them. It’s a seemingly impossible solution to a seemingly impossible problem but that’s exactly what needs to be done.
We can use parking lots in Irvine now that visitors to park for free and be shuttled into town. This model is being used in many cities around the world and could work here if we can bring our neighboring cities, state and county agencies to work on this together. Do we need to take over LCR to do that? Maybe not if we work on a solution with all parties. It’s not just our problem. The costs need to be shared and the solutions must be regional.
We also have 4 acres of land at our disposal as the LB County Water District owns land near El Morro and it could be used for parking. Unfortunately our southern border does not have adequate land for parking but it’s possible to build more parking at Salt Creek.
Finally, Mr. Ray’s comments on how Village Laguna is the giant killer in our town that can stop any development project is just malarkey. (nonsense). Preserving our town is Village Laguna’s mission and the Promenade concept has been misguided from the start, with little resident input after 4 years.
Mr. Ray: We can have a Promenade and preserve Forest Ave. as a historic street by adopting a hybrid model whereby we use it as a street during the week and on weekends turn it into a Promenade. Everybody wins.
Ed Note – George Weiss is a current member of Laguna Beach City Council.
Mr. Morgan and Mr. Weiss are creatures of Village Laguna and will try to kill anything great. M
Mr. Ray, once again You are mistaken, I have never been nor do I have a plan to be a “creature” of Village Laguna. I am however a Resident of Laguna Beach who is painfully aware of the direction that our current City Council Majority continues to steer our City. A Council Majority that has recklessly spent the Cities funds on unneeded and unwanted developments, properties and studies. Question, why does the Council Majority not listen to the constituents that They “declare” to represent?
Having said that, Mr. Ray, please explain precisely what is so “great” about building a multi-level parking structure at the Village Entrance. The proposed structure is to be built at the expense of Us the Residents of Laguna Beach?
As soon as You make an argument on behalf of Us the Laguna Residents, one that makes any sense as to why we would want to pay for a Parking Structure at the Village entrance (or anywhere else in Laguna for that matter) please let’s hear it. I assure You it will not be “great” for Us the Residents.
Michael Ray’s musings reflect the frustration of a developer’s perspective, but they miss the heart of what makes Laguna Beach special. Comparing Laguna Beach to Irvine overlooks the fact that Laguna is not meant to be a sprawling, overdeveloped city. It’s a unique coastal community that prioritizes art, nature, and a sense of place over unchecked development. The idea that Village Laguna and others have “buried their heads in the sand” by opposing projects like the parking garage fails to recognize that these initiatives often serve outside interests rather than benefiting local residents. More development doesn’t just relieve pressure; it attracts more tourism and creates even greater strain on the very infrastructure we’re trying to protect.
While Laguna Beach’s zoning and planning processes may be complex, they exist to safeguard the city from turning into just another Orange County tourist destination. Streamlining processes is fine, but we shouldn’t sacrifice the thoughtful planning that preserves the small-town character that residents cherish. Rather than adopting developer-driven projects, we should focus on sustainable solutions that maintain our city’s unique identity while addressing today’s challenges. Mr. Ray’s vision may work for Irvine, but it’s not right for Laguna Beach. Let’s keep our community’s needs at the forefront, not the demands of outside developers.