Why Downtown Laguna is Suffering

I think it was just wonderful for the City to organize the special meeting of the City Council and the Planning Commission May 19th. I’m very excited that attention is being focused on problems with the downtown area and the Downtown Specific Plan is being reexamined. I heard a some great points at this meeting and believe this open and informal process has the potential to yield sound improvements to the planning function. The meeting inspired me to write this letter.  Its long length attests to how motivated I am to see improvements made.  I would love to see more such meetings in the future.  I was especially impressed with the need to provide more parking spaces and the idea to remove additional parking requirements when subdividing large spaces into smaller units. After all, there isn’t an increase in the total square footage of these spaces when they are subdivided. Smaller units would be easier to rent and would better serve the small businesses the City prefers.  Other proposals, such as raising the height limits on Forest Avenue buildings to allow second story additions, or changing the Guidelines to allow chain or formulaic businesses, I personally disagree with, but they are creative ideas nonetheless. I’m sure some of you would really like these ideas.    

I would have liked to see a lot more participation from residents and downtown property and business owners alike. As far as I know, the meeting was not noticed, or advertised. I found out about it by accident. Nobody else downtown that I talked with had heard of it.  I don’t know how the other attendees found out about it. Most of them thought the Planning Commission was doing a great job.  I didn’t hear any strong criticisms and those that did criticize were not too specific.  I have heard a lot of comments “on the street” that were certainly not voiced at this meeting. I encourage all of you to get involved—to have a say in the future that will affect you.