Laguna Beach : Developer to Be Sought for Senior Housing Units

City officials will seek a builder to construct and manage 12 low-cost senior housing units in a grove of eucalyptus trees in Laguna Canyon, the City Council has decided.

And in a surprise development, city officials also discovered that only one tree rather than three would have to be removed to make way for the project. Some nearby residents had protested the project, partially because trees would be cut down.

Plans call for a dozen 350-square-foot studio apartments on a 23,500-square-foot site near Thurston Park. The city would donate the land, and the $540,000 project would be built by a private developer or nonprofit corporation, possibly using federal funds.

The units would be in four buildings. Original plans called for the removal of three of the eight or nine trees in the grove, City Manager Ken Frank said. However, by moving the location of the entryway and readjusting the direction of one building, two of the three trees can be saved.