Driftwood meetings are done right

Roger von Butow

An often-quoted cliche by Laguna Beach officials is that “no good

deed goes unpunished.” So there is great irony in your article about

the Driftwood project and the subsequent questions by this paper

regarding the constituents, legitimacy, purpose and nature of these

meetings plus their genesis. Councilman Steve Dicterow showed

courageous leadership and vision by assembling this ad hoc committee

last February when he not only sensed the broad chasm of discord and

grievances, but the unresolved or inadequately addressed issues due

to numerous Planning Commission board and staff shortcomings.

Frankly I was shocked but proud to be included by Dicterow as the

water quality critic in this representational, cross-trained group

rife with expertise. Three are neighbors of the proposed project and

they merit attention: Steve Gromet (real estate attorney), Ed Almanza

(professional enviro consultant, Ocean Laguna board member) and Penny

Elia (Hobo Canyon Neighborhood Assn., Sierra Club Coastal Sage).

There have been more than half a dozen meetings, and we are being

unfairly typified as “negotiating.” My perception is that we’re

attempting to “triage,” that is proactively sort out or

summarize/catalog the consensually agreed upon major areas of

agreement or disagreement in a uniquely informal venue.

This may obviate the type of televised bloodbaths and vociferous

confrontations before council, Treasure Island being an excellent

historical example. Not mentioned in the article are the innumerable

uncompensated hours all of us have put in. The developer and his

architect have made themselves readily accessible and responsive,

thus amplifying and enhancing this process. One of our main

struggles, also not addressed in your article, is to define and

address the catch-all phrase “neighborhood compatibility or

consistency,” a concept often used generically in city-wide building

project comments but never discreetly defined by the city.

The quotes from Planning Commissioners Norm Grossman and Ann

Johnson are irresponsible, unfathomably ignorant cheap shots. If

their commission and support staff had done a better job this ad hoc

might not even have been necessary. In a sense, this committee is a

reaction to those failures.

Using inflammatory rhetoric about subversion of rights, or

claiming that all of the community-wide questions have already been

answered, is reflective of Grossman and Johnson’s thinly-veiled

contempt for their own home grown, environmental watchdog community.

As for the self-serving claim that they fulfilled their mission

statement by the number of meetings held, the Tower of Babel proves

that more time and product doesn’t necessarily add up to finer

quality, just hubristic pomp and circumstance. We’re not exactly the

“posse comitatus,” holding secretive meetings, complete with hermetic

or esoteric handshakes. In yet another irony, it was Grossman and

Johnson who were handpicked by Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson to be

liaisons for the Laguna Vision 2030 endeavor.

Now who or what has been subverted? Realistically, such

empowerment rankles native locals as they’re not exactly outdoorsy

beach folks.? Shouldn’t our jewel by the sea have leadership

reflective of our heritage, not recycled political cronies indebted

to council members?

Dicterow should be heralded, not demeaned nor pilloried, for his

foresight and desire to create an inclusive, cooperative venue, which

could attenuate the acrimony upon return to council. His voluntary

efforts should be praised not only regarding this specific tract, but

the much-needed education of our community for future growth. It is a

type of precedent-setting effort sorely lacking in our contentious

past, and if everything was already discussed, what’s the harm? We’re

whittled down now to 11 residences from the original 19 proposed --

thus significantly mitigating impacts in a civil and conjunctive

manner. Why fault that?

This is a rare occurrence that doesn’t happen often enough for

advocates protecting our last remaining open land. Dicterow, as

peacemaker, has succeeded in getting dreaded, mortal enemies to sit

down in substantive dialogue. That’s a true visionary.

* ROGER VON BUTOW of Laguna Beach is a member of the Clean Water

Now! Coalition.