Definitive rules would make appeals rare

Tom Ahern

The Design Review Task Force should develop a comprehensive set of

building rules that everyone -- homeowners, neighbors, architects and

builders -- can agree to beforehand and which are not subject to

appeal.

As I was talking to City Council candidate Jane Egly a few weeks

ago, a prominent Laguna architect came by. I asked him how much more

architect fees were for the identical structure in Laguna versus

neighboring cities.

“I would charge at least 25% higher in Laguna than in say, Newport

Beach. With many appeals, the fees can be a lot higher still.”

When asked why, he replied that the design rules in Newport were

well thought out and detailed, and that if the rules said 15 feet, an

architect could design to that height without fear that plans would

have to be redone. The rules are so well developed that there is no

normal appeals process.

As in so many other areas of Laguna government (conditional-use

permits and the Downtown Specific Plan, to name but two), the design

guidelines are vague and subject to interpretation, so the architect

of a Laguna structure must often redesign after initial plans met

existing guidelines, but when the neighbors objected. Often, several

iterations of major plans changes are involved, and often the

property owners abandon the projects for financial reasons or because

they don’t want to live next to the people who fought them so hard at

design review.

The challenge for the Design Review Task Force is to develop clear

and objective rules for structures, neighborhood by neighborhood, so

that everybody understands that these are the rules and there is

little cause for appeal. It will not be easy, but the battles over

mansionization, heights and views should be fought once, in the

development of the rules, not in their interpretation in dozens of

Design Review Committee battles pitting neighbors against neighbors

while raising the cost of building in Laguna. Of course, there will

have to be careful wording so that neighborhoods do not have

homogenized structures that all look the same.

The other issue for building in Laguna Beach that causes so much

extra cost is the city staff, which should be helping residents,

architects and builders to meet standards with a helpful, “can-do”

attitude, but the opposite attitude is unfortunately the norm at 505

Forest Ave.

It will not be simple for the Design Review Task Force to develop

rules that are no longer vague and to which Lagunans can agree to

abide without the constant use of appeals, but I think and hope it

can be done. The alternative is the rancor, chaos and needless

expense of the current design review process.

* TOM AHERN is the owner of Latitude 33 Bookshop in Laguna Beach.