The project was more than 10 years in the making and involved the cooperation of county, state and local government agencies, landowners and the environmental community in the earliest stages.
"It was almost 14 years ago to the day that we started the Consensus Committee," Laguna Greenbelt Inc. President Elisabeth Brown said.
Separating the lines to reduce traffic accidents and moving the road out from between the two lakes to eliminate flooding were two of the committee's priorities.
What it took:
Still to be done:
Twenty-nine thousand vehicles are expected to use the realigned roadway daily.
— Barbara Diamond
9. Mansionization
"Mansionization" became a buzzword with the construction of larger homes and other major projects, especially on hillsides requiring lots of grading.
During the council election campaign, mansionization was the one topic brought up at all the council forums, and activists vowed to seek an absolute limit on the size of new homes.
Efforts by community members to stop construction of a 17,000-square-foot residence on a 12-acre parcel on Mar Vista failed after the developer took his case to court and succeeded in making city officials back down on a proposed revocation of permits. When the California Coastal Commission tried to issue a stay on the project, the developer again took the case to court and obtained a ruling allowing the project to go forward.
Meanwhile, building began on a four-unit residential project on Ceanothus Drive, in the hills of South Laguna. Rock-breakers shattered the ears and nerves of neighbors, and city officials stepped in to try to ease the noise and dust issues.
