Corporation yard move approved

Barbara Diamond

Relocation of the city corporation yard moved a step closer to

reality on Tuesday when the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted

3 to 0 in support of the county Planning Commission approval of the

project.

Fifth District Supervisor Tom Wilson and Supervisor Chris Norby

said they would defer to the City Council majority, which favored the

move, 3 to 2.

The Laguna Canyon Conservancy had appealed the county Planning

Commission approval. Piecemeal processing of the ACT V corporate yard

relocation and the Village Entrance, changes in the ingress and

egress to ACT V without an opportunity for public review, conflicting

evaluations of the number of parking spaces for the festival season

and alleged damage to a blue line stream were among the 26 reasons

cited for the appeal.

Although the ACT V parcel is owned by the city, it is in the

county’s jurisdiction because the city never annexed it -- a bone of

contention for opponents of the relocation project.

The parcel was purchased from the Irvine Co. with the notion of

moving the corporation yard. The City Council approved a project in

the late 1990s, a plan was drawn, a coastal development permit issued

by the county and some preliminary work was done on the site. Then

the council rescinded its approval of what City Manager Ken Frank

called the “gold plated project” -- it included gravel color-matched

to the dirt on the parcel.

Kinsman never gave up on the project and got the third vote she

needed to revive it when Elizabeth Pearson, who sat with Kinsman on

the Planning Commission and the Village Entrance Task Force, was

elected to the council in 2002.

The approved plan calls for two buildings, totaling 20,000 square

feet, storage and service for 102 vehicles and work space for 86

employees, screened by landscaping; parking for 190 public vehicles,

also screened by landscaping; and a bus stop and turnaround for

festival trams.

Assistant City Manager John Pietig proposed at the Dec. 5 City

Council meeting funding for the relocation from a hodgepodge of

sources: $600,000 that had been earmarked for public parking in South

Laguna; an estimated profit of $2.46 million from the sale of lots in

North Laguna that now house the city’s nursery and assorted vehicles;

$900,000 from the Orange County Transportation Authority; $300,000

from the city’s Capital Improvement Fund; and $500,000 from the

general fund.

That approval came before the council heard the dire midyear

budget report on Tuesday or tapped city funds and project

appropriations to pay off the Treasure Island Park debt of $8.1

million.

The California Coastal Commission is expected to review the

relocation project.