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.
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