City hears suggestions for changes in parking lots and the bus depot

Urban planning firm MIG has unveiled proposals for Laguna Beach’s downtown that include new parking lots along Cliff Drive and at Las Brisas restaurant, more housing and the creation of smaller bus stops rather than having one large transit center.

After a year of community meetings and discussions with city staff, the company presented its ideas Tuesday to the City Council and Planning Commission as decision makers head toward updating policies for development and land use downtown.

The city is updating its downtown specific plan, a key planning document that focuses on development standards, including the aesthetics of buildings.

MIG said it wanted feedback from the council and commission.

Its idea for parking along Cliff Drive includes a two-level subterranean garage for 220 cars that would cut into a slope. Atop the structure would be a park-like expanse.

MIG said this would be in keeping with the city’s focus on providing peripheral parking when possible to alleviate traffic congestion downtown.

MIG said it has met with Las Brisas’ owner about possibly acquiring some of the restaurant’s parking space. The business has a valet parking lot that holds 58 cars.

As with the Cliff Drive proposal, the Las Brisas lot could be turned into a park-like space topping a parking area that could fit 100 cars, MIG said.

The council and commission liked the Las Brisas idea but expressed concern that a Cliff Drive parking area might not be welcomed by nearby residents.

“I’m concerned about the residential impact of a 20-foot wall where they used to have a landscaped slope,” Commissioner Roger McErlane said. “That is going to be a tough sell.”

Part of the council and commission discussion centered on the needs of residents versus those of tourists.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman said residents need to come first in any decision, including housing mingling with businesses downtown.

She added, “I would love to live downtown. Yet over the last six years, [residents] in an apartment building on Broadway [Street] were sending regular emails about noise in the downtown.”

Iseman said she liked the Las Brisas parking proposal as well as the suggestion to dismantle the bus depot, which is between Broadway Street to Ocean Avenue.

MIG representative Chris Beynon said the bus depot could be converted to open space or replaced with buildings that fit the areas’ design.

He said attractive bus stops scattered throughout town could serve riders well.

“A transit center is not the highest and best use,” said Beynon, who added that Orange County Transportation Authority officials are amenable to a bus depot conversion.

One proposal that did not go over well is the idea of moving the Laguna Beach Library on Glenneyre Street to another downtown location.

MIG has yet to study the cost and effect on traffic of the suggestions.

“Ideas are beautiful but in the end they may not be affordable or practical,” said City Manager John Pietig, who commended MIG on the work thus far. “Moving the transit center sounds great, but at the same time where is it going to go?”

MIG and the city will probably hold more public meetings in the fall, Beynon said. The firm hopes to present a final draft for review by spring, he said.