What should Laguna Canyon look like? Planning Commission will discuss study results Wednesday

Laguna Canyon Creek should be preserved and the city should postpone setting a limit on the number of artist work/live projects in a given space, an urban planning firm said in its report on Laguna Canyon.

The Laguna Beach Planning Commission on Wednesday will consider recommendations from MIG on development and zoning standards in an area that contains a variety of land uses and includes neighborhoods such as Sarah Thurston Park, Castle Rock and Sun Valley.

The hearing will be the third time since May that commissioners have mulled the study of Laguna Canyon, which contains a mix of houses and businesses, along with Laguna College of Art and Design.

The study began in February 2015 with MIG and the city gathering feedback from the public on what it wants the canyon to look like and function as in the years ahead.

Canyon residents want rules that would help protect the area from “negative” impacts of development, preserve ridgeline views and preserve/restore the overall “rural” character of Laguna Canyon, the report said.

A goal of the study is to balance the need for commercial and light industrial uses while preserving the character of the surrounding natural environment and residential neighborhoods, according to MIG’s report.

One area of focus has been two zones — M-1A and M-1B — that allow manufacturing and storage businesses. Taller buildings and smaller lot sizes characterize existing conditions in the M-1A zone as opposed to the M-1B zone, according to MIG’s report.

Some residents want laws that help reduce noise and air quality impacts from businesses in these zones, while acknowledging that some auto-related businesses, such as upholstery stores, be allowed with a conditional use permit in M-1B areas where they are currently prohibited, the report added.

The city is studying its stock of artist live/work spaces as part of its Cultural Arts Plan, thus MIG heeded the commission’s direction to postpone attaching a number of allowed units per acre until a future date.

MIG recommended four units per acre, but Planning Commissioner Ken Sadler suggested during the June meeting that it would be premature to attach a number.

Four dwelling units per acre is “not reasonable and restricts the ability for projects to ever get approved,” Sadler said in comments contained in MIG’s report.

MIG recommends protecting the creek as it “provides surface and/or groundwater for vegetation and wildlife,” according to the report.

“There should be no grading, construction or other man-made features permitted within 30 feet of the centerline of the creek” according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the report said.

Proximity of buildings to the creek emerged as a significant issue for Louis Longi’s 30-unit artist work/live project during a 2015 California Coastal Commission hearing, and again during Orange County Superior Court proceedings last year.

The City Council would review the commission’s recommendations and decide whether to begin the process of updating Laguna’s general plan and municipal code to incorporate changes.

Wednesday’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall at 505 Forest Ave.

bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce