"We have to make sure staging is not so onerous that it makes it impossible to build," Patrascu said.
Iseman said if staging is too difficult it might be because the project doesn't fit the site.
In response to a question on how the candidates would enforce approved landscaping that has become overgrown, the incumbents cited the city's hedge ordinance.
Pearson said complaints about violations may be filed.
However, some properties were planted before landscaping was part of design review, and affected property owners have no recourse — especially if their relations with their neighbors are strained.
Boyd said the city needs an ordinance to stop the view obstruction.
Un-topped and un-laced trees that block views are unfair, hurt property values and are a fire hazard, he said.
Patrascu opined that vegetation should be treated like houses in terms of view blockage.
"Sometimes a tree makes one just as happy as an ocean," Iseman said. "It is difficult to suggest you can't have that. Unfortunately, we have spite."
She would like to see neighbors collaborate, sharing the cost of trimming trees, taking advantage of the fees charged the city, which are lower than individual jobs.
In response to a later question about view blockage, Pearson said she has always supported the right to a view. The city formerly had a tree ordinance, which she helped to craft while a member of the Planning Commission.
"I am sorry we didn't continue it," she said.
Boyd suggested uncooperative neighbors could be invited to trade homes for a month.
"See how they like it," Boyd said.
Arnold Hano asked what has happened to the park promised when the city's corporation yard was moved to ACT V, a question also posed at the Village Laguna forum.
A park and coastal commission-required parking spaces were planned to be constructed on what is known as the Village Entrance in the first of many compromise solutions on which Iseman and Pearson have teamed.
