Dealing with unfinished business

Barbara Diamond

The Laguna Canyon Conservancy challenged Councilman Wayne Baglin to

set the record straight on city projects and policies termed

“Unfinished Business.”

Baglin responded Monday night at the conservancy’s March dinner

meeting at Tivoli Terrace, prefacing his talk with a caveat:

“Anything I say is my opinion and I can’t say that I will shed all

the sunlight possible on the issues.”

On the top of his list of unfinished business: South Laguna’s

perception of itself as a stepchild, years after it requested

annexation by Laguna Beach.

“It still doesn’t get the attention it should.” Baglin said.

South Laguna desperately needs parking, but the council is split

on how to proceed, according to Baglin.

“One position is to do nothing,” he said

He supports construction of parking on South Coast Highway, on a

lot across from the popular Ti Amo restaurant, possible in

conjunction with a new fire station to replace the outdated facility

on 2nd Avenue that the city inherited from the county.

“But the money for that is on its way to ACT V -- one of my

favorite subjects,” Baglin said.

But first, a brief detour to the visioning process. Baglin said

that never in all his time in Laguna had he seen so much community

participation resulting in so many ideas. Unfortunately, he said,

some of the ideas conflicted -- and those need to be resolved so the

process can move forward.

Parking produced a conflict: one recommendation was to accommodate

more vehicles Downtown and another recommendation was for peripheral

parking to keep vehicles out of Downtown.

After considerable tap dancing, the council voted 3-2 to move the

maintenance yard out to ACT V, and add parking to the Village

Entrance. Unfortunately, that would reduce peripheral parking at ACT

V, drastically, according to some calculations, acceptably by other

calculations.

“There never will be a corporation yard at ACT V,” Baglin said.

He was preaching to the choir.

The conservancy filed an appeal of the county’s approval of the

relocation with the California Coastal Commission, which Baglin

supports.

“Thanks to Carolyn Wood [who prepared the appeal], the Coastal

Commission is going to tell us to go to hell,” Baglin said.

He encouraged opponents to attend the June coastal commission

hearing in Long Beach at which the appeal will be heard.

Personal goals for Baglin include rehabilitation of the Lifeguard

Headquarters, better training and staff support for the Design Review

Board and much stronger wording about what prospective home builders

or remodelers can expect to be approved. Instead of a warning that

building envelopes and footprints for a specific lot are maximums and

may not be allowed, Baglin would prefer to see a bold-faced “There is

not a chance you can do this.”

A question and answer period followed Baglin’s talk.

Question: What is the city doing about pollution in Aliso Creek?

Answer: “Nothing.”

Q: Mansionization?

A: “We want to keep the scale of this town.” Baglin said he just

went along with an earlier council’s approval when he voted in favor

of an 11,000-square-foot home in South Laguna, calling it a

neighborhood in itself.

Q: Montage Parking?

A: “The [environmental impact report] was flawed. I don’t know if

the city, Athens Group and the consultant conspired, but they did a

lousy, lousy job. It is 50 to 70 spaces short. It appears they will

have to buy off-site parking to meet their needs. We got taken to the

cleaners.”

Q: Refinancing the city’s debt for Treasure Island Park?

A: Baglin credited council members Toni Iseman and Cheryl Kinsman

for putting aside their differences to work together to come up with

a plan to refinance the park costs, saving the city a considerable

amount in interest.

Q: Construction staging at Big Bend?

A: No.

Q: The city’s biggest problem?

A: “The City Manager.”