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.