Pottery Shack project OKd
Barbara Diamond
Divide and conquer.
The City Council separated neighborhood parking concerns from the
proposed Parking Shack project Tuesday night and came up with a
winner.
“There’s no doubt that progress was made on the recognition of
parking problems, not only in our neighborhood, but in the others
behind South Coast Highway from Thalia Street to Diamond Street,”
said Tom Girvin, president of the Flatlanders Neighborhood Assn.
The Flatlanders had fought tooth and nail against the proposed
rehabilitation and remodel of the Pottery Shack, based on the impact
it would have on neighborhood parking. The neighbors filled the
council chamber girded for battle, some 40 of them prepared to speak
in opposition to the project.
“There is a parking problem in the neighborhood, but my client
shouldn’t be penalized for it,” project architect Morris Skenderian
said.
The council’s decision to address the parking concerns separately
in a workshop scheduled for 6 p.m., Jan. 25 was welcomed and blunted
overt objections to the 3 to 2 approval of the Pottery Shack.
“We don’t oppose this project, it’s the accumulative effects,”
Girvin said.
Council members Jane Egly and Steve Dicterow voted against the
project. “I don’t know how to compare historical significance with
parking impacts,” Dicterow said. “This is the straw that broke the
camel’s back.”
Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman supported the project because of happy
childhood memories and her conviction that if property owner Joe
Hanauer didn’t get an approval, a far larger project would replace
the collection of historical structures, E-rated as top historical
value, at 1212 S. Coast Highway.
“I agree with Cheryl; I am not willing to do in the Pottery
Shack,” Iseman said. “There will be some development there and I
don’t think anything better would go there.”
Iseman said the Flatlanders had given a whole new meaning to
parking.
She said she would be looking at bagging the meters from Thalia to
Diamond streets on Glenneyre to see if that lures parkers out of the
residential streets. She was not as optimistic about neighborhood
parking stickers.
“I spend three days a month at Coastal Commission hearings and
hear requests for the stickers,” she said. “It is very difficult. You
have to provide low-cost parking for tourists.”
Iseman said she would like to see underground parking on the
Pottery Shack site and she thinks the city can find the money for it.
“I am not going to let this go,” Iseman said.
Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider proposed the neighborhood
parking workshop and splitting the vote on the project and the
parking problem.
“I am ecstatic,” Skenderian said.
Skenderian said there were two overriding considerations:
preservation of the iconic group of buildings that harken back to a
rich history of pottery making in Laguna Beach and the neighbors’
parking problems.
“I don’t think my client should have to solve the parking
problem,” he said.
“This project retains the character and charm of the site,”
Hanauer said. “Keep in mind that of all the alternatives for the
site, this will be the least impactful.”
Skenderian said he had turned down jobs from three different
clients who wanted to tear down the Pottery Shack and put up bigger
structures.
The project was approved with 57 conditions, including the
oversight of a preservation consultant. The complex, which sprawls
over 15 lots, will include office space a restaurant, outdoor
displays and retail space.
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