Recommendations

Skateboarders may have won a significant victory Sept. 23. The Parking, Traffic and Circulation Committee eliminated from a proposed ordinance a ban on skateboarding on steep hillside streets such as Park Avenue. The committee's recommendations will be reviewed by the city attorney and the Police Department before going to the City Council for a final decision. The council is tentatively scheduled to decide on the issue Nov. 16, said Jim Beres, civilian supervisor for the Police Department.

Information about city employees' salaries are easier to find after the Orange County Grand Jury in June dinged the city for its lack of transparency. The information, which was formerly available but scattered on the city's website , has been consolidated into a single-page format, with hyperlinks to help folks more easily find salaries and benefits. But that doesn't mean the city agreed with all of the Grand Jury's conclusions or recommendations. "It is important to question the amount spent on personnel and municipal services to ensure they are appropriate in the light of a city's particular service demands, the market, local economy and community preferences," said City Manager John Pietig.

LAGUNA NIGUEL — The Urban Land Institute (ULI) presented at Tuesday's City Council meeting some recommendations for a town center "hub," which included ideas regarding nightlife, housing and restaurants. The county and city sponsored the nonprofit's investigation into how best to develop the property, which currently holds City Hall, the library, the former South County Courthouse site and half a million square feet of unused land. A master plan was previously developed in 2008, back when the county planned to expand the courthouse.

Bluebird Canyon residents debated Tuesday about a report from a certified arborist who had inspected city-owned trees there. Recommendations included the removal of 11 of the 31 city-owned eucalyptus trees in the heavily wooded neighborhood, which has been divided on the issue. The 26 residents who attended the meeting hosted Tuesday by Public Works Director Steve May at the Community Center appeared to have been brought no closer to agreement by the report. "Some residents don't want to see any of the trees removed; others want them all removed," May said.

Barbara Diamond Some "orphans" from the Vision Laguna 2030 recommendations still need homes, but progress is being made. A Planning Commission subcommittee report to the City Council on the status of the recommendations listed a number of projects that came out of the two-year visioning process -- in which more than 2,000 local residents and business people participated -- that are still looking for "ownership" by...

-- Barbara Diamond More than 50 local folks attended a special Planning Commission meeting Monday on mansionization. The meeting was held to review short-, mid-, and long-term recommendations the commission has worked on at the City Council's direction to stem the tide of increasingly larger homes being constructed, which many complain are ill-suited to the city. The recommendations came out of 10 months of workshops on the mansionization issue.

Barbara Diamond WHAT: MANSIONIZATION WHAT'S BEHIND IT: City officials and residents have become increasingly concerned about the cumulative effect of larger homes that are out of character with the neighborhoods where they are being built, and at the expense of some of Laguna's charmers and character. The high cost of real estate has been blamed by some for the phenomenon, endemic along the South Coast, which has come to be called mansionization.

Lack of an oversight committee to review the Homeless Task Force recommendations impact on the community was an oversight rectified Tuesday. The council voted unanimously in favor of Mayor Kelly Boyd’s proposal to create an Advisory Committee on Homelessness and his list of candidates to serve on it, with his assurance that the task force’s 14 recommendations would be implemented, not just rehashed. “I am concerned about the description of the committee,” said the Rev. Colin Henderson, a member of the original task force.

The City Council has authorized a study to find an alternate location for the tennis courts next to the Festival of Arts grounds. Councilman Paul Freeman said he had made a personal commitment to the Festival negotiators to try to free up the space. He asked the council to direct staff to come up with a plan to relocate the courts to the back of Act V, but couldn't get the necessary votes, partially because the relocation would require a reduction of 25-30 spaces of peripheral parking per court.

An area along Laguna Canyon Road may be designated as soon as Oct. 1 as a place for the city’s homeless population to sleep at night. The City Council will consider on Tuesday the Advisory Committee on Homelessness recommendations that include establishing the north end of the parking lot by the old Digester Building as a temporary location for the homeless to sleep. It will cost an estimated $210,000. The proposal is a response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU that argued that unless the city offered a place for the homeless to sleep, prohibiting them from sleeping on city beaches, in parks or on street benches violated their civil rights.

The City Council took to heart the recommendation by the Environmental Sustainability Committee to investigate solar energy systems for public buildings. Staff was directed at the Nov. 13 meeting to consult with solar energy companies to determine which systems would work best on city facilities; make a list of the facilities in need of restoration; and install the systems accordingly. "This is a no brainer," said Chris Prelitz, a long-time proponent of solar energy. "Other cities are using it. " In fact, so is Laguna Beach.

Steps taken by Laguna Beach officials to improve the quality of public information on employee compensation have been approved by the Orange County Grand Jury. The grand jury issues reports and recommendations on civil matters throughout the year to Orange County's public agencies. In a report issued June 14, the jury gave Laguna Beach an A the accessibility of employee compensation costs, but gave it a D for what was described as poorly defined information about the city's share of the cost of employee pension benefits, employee contribution rates, overtime costs and total employee compensation on the city website.

Bluebird Canyon residents have until Sept. 18 to try to come up with a compromise that will satisfy supporters and opponents of the removal of eucalyptus trees in their neighborhood. The City Council on Tuesday agreed to the delay requested by Bluebird Canyon residents that would give them time to deal among themselves with recommendations by a city-commissioned arborist to remove the trees. Arborist Ed Black recommended the removal of 11 of the 31 city-owned eucalypti, replacing two of them and trimming four others.

Bluebird Canyon residents debated Tuesday about a report from a certified arborist who had inspected city-owned trees there. Recommendations included the removal of 11 of the 31 city-owned eucalyptus trees in the heavily wooded neighborhood, which has been divided on the issue. The 26 residents who attended the meeting hosted Tuesday by Public Works Director Steve May at the Community Center appeared to have been brought no closer to agreement by the report. "Some residents don't want to see any of the trees removed; others want them all removed," May said.

The City Council wants more information before it challenges the federal government's control of wireless services facilities — those installations that have sprouted up all over Laguna, regardless of how city officials or residents feel about them. City staff will prepare a comparison of Laguna's telecommunication ordinance with those of other cities, particularly Glendale's, before the City Council takes action to encourage the federal government to allow more local control over the facilities.

Safety trumped the environment Tuesday when the City Council supported Southern California Edison's recommendation to chop down five eucalyptus trees at the top of Bluebird Canyon. The utility is empowered without city approval to remove trees that pose a threat to high-voltage power lines that could cause fires. Fire Chief Kris Head and Director of Public Works Steve May supported Edison's recommendation, while opponents protested the action as desecration of raptor habitat, to be undertaken only with expert guidance.

LAGUNA NIGUEL — The Urban Land Institute (ULI) presented at Tuesday's City Council meeting some recommendations for a town center "hub," which included ideas regarding nightlife, housing and restaurants. The county and city sponsored the nonprofit's investigation into how best to develop the property, which currently holds City Hall, the library, the former South County Courthouse site and half a million square feet of unused land. A master plan was previously developed in 2008, back when the county planned to expand the courthouse.

Information about city employees' salaries are easier to find after the Orange County Grand Jury in June dinged the city for its lack of transparency. The information, which was formerly available but scattered on the city's website , has been consolidated into a single-page format, with hyperlinks to help folks more easily find salaries and benefits. But that doesn't mean the city agreed with all of the Grand Jury's conclusions or recommendations. "It is important to question the amount spent on personnel and municipal services to ensure they are appropriate in the light of a city's particular service demands, the market, local economy and community preferences," said City Manager John Pietig.

The Laguna Canyon Flood Mitigation Task Force has recommended working with the California Department of Transportation and the county to reduce flooding in the canyon and downtown and to warn folks when it is coming. Councilwoman Verna Rollinger reported three recommendations that include connecting the city to the county's automated flood warning system, increasing the capacity of the flood control channel under Coast Highway and improving drainage along Laguna Canyon Road. "The task force is looking at improvements - some of which are simple and some not so simple," Rollinger said.

A subcommittee of the Business Assistance Task Force reported its efforts to assist existing businesses and encourage more to open during last week's City Council meeting. "Several dozen new stores have opened up in town in the past year and we have turned down none," said Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson, who leads the task force and subcommittee with Mayor Toni Iseman. "If we have a reputation for not being friendly to business, they need to look at the numbers. " Twelve task force recommendations have been completed, including peripheral parking at Pavilions during Festival Season, establishing a customer service improvement team at City Hall, and annual customer service evaluations.