The City Council voted 4 to 1 at the June 16 meeting to support a Marine Reserve designation for all of Laguna Beach, except for a zone around the South Orange County Water Authority outfall that conducts treated water to the ocean. If adopted as supported by the council majority, the reserve would give the state control to prohibit fishing, recreational or commercial, along the city coastline for five years. Mayor Kelly Boyd vehemently opposed the vote.
“I have over 200 e-mails and communications opposing the complete closure of the city,” Boyd said Wednesday night. “I brought 74 of the e-mails to submit here — four of them in favor and 70 opposed. I didn’t bring the others because they were so abusive to the other council members.”
Councilwoman Verna Rollinger, who voted in favor of the reserve, also attended the open house and made her comments in writing.
The council’s border-to-border proposal was not incorporated in the maps displayed at the open house of the South Coast Study Region from Point Conception to the San Diego County border with Mexico and blocks of color were used to identify the proposed regulated areas — red for “no take,” blue for conservation areas where some fishing was allowed and yellow for more lenient regulations.
External proposals A and B were mapped by fishing groups. They are under review by the stakeholder group and are not recommended to the California Fish and Game Commission, which is required to adopt a master plan for the Marine Life Protection Program.
A seventh map showed current designations, including the reserve at Heisler Park.
