Laguna Beach to use grant money to renovate Alternative Sleeping Location

Laguna Beach’s Alternative Sleeping Location will get a face lift following the City Council’s acceptance of nearly $1 million from a state block grant program Tuesday night.

More than half the grant will be used to upgrade the ASL, a homeless shelter on Laguna Canyon Road, with renovated bathrooms, floor replacement, painting and electrical work inside and new metal fencing, security cameras, lighting, roofing and landscaping outside.

The remaining $365,000 will help reimburse the city for its emergency homeless services, which include cold weather shelters, the ASL’s overnight and new daytime drop-in programs and the Project Homecoming program, which seeks to unite homeless people with their families.

The grant is from California’s Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council’s Homeless Emergency Aid Program and is administered by the Orange County Continuum of Care board.

Mokes no more

In a unanimous decision, the City Council overturned the Planning Commission’s approval of an electric car rental location on the corner of North Coast Highway and Fairview Street because council members said it didn’t fit the neighborhood.

The business, Moke Electric Vehicles, had been trying to set up shop in Laguna Beach since November, when it first appeared before the Planning Commission. After a second hearing in January, the commission granted the business a conditional use permit.

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But a group of residents appealed the decision, saying the small, low-speed vehicles would disturb the neighborhood by jamming up throughways, impacting parking and potentially causing safety issues for anyone trying to turn from Fairview onto Coast Highway in the slow-moving vehicles.

“We can call a duck a Moke, but it’s a duck. And this duck just laid an egg,” said Anders Lasater, who represented the group of neighbors. “It’s not going to work here.”

Decision on tree removal policy delayed

On a 4-1 vote, the council continued its consideration of a tree removal policy until June 4 so the city would have time to review feedback from a meeting next month about trees.

Councilman Peter Blake cast the dissenting vote, saying he didn’t think postponing the vote would change his decision.