Cost of Renovating Laguna City Hall Doubles : Remodeling: The City Council will be asked to allocate additional funds for the project, now priced at more than $4 million.

LAGUNA BEACH —  The latest cost overruns in the remodeling of Laguna Beach City Hall have bumped the estimated price of the project to more than $4 million, twice what was projected in January, 1989.

On Tuesday, the City Council will be asked to allocate an additional $730,000 to pay for mushrooming renovation costs, partly by shifting funds that were set aside for other city projects. The council will also consider a controversial work of art intended for the front of City Hall that is being designed in conjunction with the remodeling project.

In the past, disgruntled residents have grumbled that the public did not have enough say in the renovation of City Hall. Although the project has been discussed at more than half a dozen public meetings, former Village Laguna President Bill Buckley said public input was minimized because the project was planned in a “piecemeal” fashion.

On Friday, the group’s current president expressed frustration at news of the ballooning costs.

“It’s a shame that this money has been squandered,” Johanna Felder said. “Certainly, the city staff has mismanaged this project. The City Council initially approved $2 million for the City Hall remodel, and it is now too late but to conclude what has become a $4-million project.”

The opening of the new city offices is also four months behind schedule. They are now expected to be completed in September at the original City Hall site on Forest Avenue. Since the remodeling began in February, 1990, city business has been conducted from rows of trailers at the corner of Forest Avenue and Laguna Canyon Road.

City Manager Kenneth C. Frank was out of town and unavailable for comment. However, according to a staff report, a variety of factors have contributed to the steadily rising costs.

The problems include unstable soil conditions discovered in the hillside behind City Hall, the bankruptcy of the project architect and the removal of asbestos discovered as the walls of the original building were being torn down.

In one $24,000 bungle, the height of the building had to be reduced when it was discovered during the final approval stage that it was planned to be 2 feet higher than the Design Review Board allowed.

Almost half of the latest shortfall is expected to be made up from funds set aside to repair an ocean bluff that crumbled during a landslide at the city’s popular Heisler Park last year. City staff says the damaged slope can be reconstructed with money from next year’s budget.

On Tuesday, the council will also take another look at a piece of modern art being proposed for the front of the spruced-up City Hall.

The city’s Arts Commission has unanimously recommended approval of a cantilevered, 12-foot-tall bronze fountain. Its designer, Tom Askman of Spokane, Wash., was one of two finalists in a competition among 56 artists.

Some residents, however, have complained that the artwork is too big and contemporary to complement City Hall, which will retain its 40-year-old facade. Last month, Mayor Neil G. Fitzpatrick asked that the sculptures be reviewed by the city’s Design Review Board, Heritage Committee and Beautification Council.