Detailed Act V compromise

Barbara Diamond

The devil’s in the details, but the devil has been no match for two

council members on a mission.

Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider and Councilwoman Toni Iseman

announced Wednesday that they had ironed out the details left

unresolved at a well-prepared and well-received public workshop, held

Jan. 15, on the design of the Village Entrance and the Act V city

maintenance yard and peripheral parking.

“This is a great compromise,” Iseman said.

In the joint press release, Pearson-Schneider said the compromise

worked out by the council subcommittee, on which she served with

Iseman, ended 10 years of planning and battle.

The subcommittee, proposed by Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman, reached

the agreement much sooner than expected, except by Pearson-Schneider

and Iseman, who optimistically predicted swift resolution of issues

outstanding from the workshop.

“Now we are going to make it happen,” Pearson-Schneider said.

The maintenance yard move and construction at Act V proposed by

the subcommittee would be paid for by the city’s parking fund and the

sale of city-owned North Laguna parcels occupied by the Parks

Division.

Pearson-Schneider has endorsed the idea of floating a revenue bond

funded by parking revenues to pay for the Village Entrance project, a

notion proposed months ago by Iseman at a Laguna Canyon Conservancy

dinner meeting.

A bond requires only a majority vote.

The City Council will be asked to approve the compromise proposal

within the next four to five weeks.

Eight new components were nailed down since the public workshop.

1. Keep approximately 255 parking spaces at Act V for peripheral

parking.

2. Eliminate one building proposed at Act V and the trim the

footprint of the remaining building.

3. Add a second story to the remaining building for offices, an

employee lunchroom and similar uses.

City staff will contact the California Coastal Commission to seek

approval of the second story, working with Iseman, who serves on the

commission, and has agreed to push for the approval. It will be under

the height limit of the Newport Coast Local Coastal Plan, which

regulates development in the unincorporated area outside the city

limits in the canyon.

4. Park all large city vehicles, including busses, at Act V.

Locate vehicle washing equipment and racks at the rear of the parcel.

5. Locate the tram stop at Act V at the top of the hill adjacent

to Highway 133 so that it is visible from the road. Passenger pickup

will be at the front of the parcel.

6 .Design the parking garage at the Village Entrance to mask city

functions on the first level. Those functions include the

parking-meter/sign division; City Hall, Arts Commission and Police

Department storage; Lifeguard operations and storage and Fire

Battalion Chief parking.

7. Access to limited public parking on the first floor of the

garage will be from Forest Avenue.

8. Primary public parking will begin on the mezzanine floor, with

access from Laguna Canyon Road.

“City staff helped us find this solution,” Iseman said. “We are

working to make this a reality as soon as possible.”

Maintenance Yard (Act V) architect Peyo Michael will prepare

preliminary space plans reflecting the changes.

Village Entrance designers Studio One Eleven will be asked to

review the proposed changes to the first floor of the Village

Entrance garage.

The compromise agreement reflects the goals and constituencies of

Iseman and Pearson-Schneider. Both gave up more than they wanted,

including reductions in parking spaces at both sites.

Chamber of Commerce past President Ken Delino publicly announced

that any reduction of parking at the Village Entrance would cost

Pearson-Schneider and Councilman Steven Dicterow in the 2006 election

if they chose to run. Iseman also is up for re-election in 2006.

The original proposal for the Village Entrance included parking

for 650 vehicles and not enough public parking to support the free

tram service at Act V, so dear to Iseman’s heart.

“We are going to increase parking at the Village Entrance and

retain enough spaces at Act V to keep our shuttle system viable,”

said Iseman, an advocate of peripheral parking that keeps vehicles

out of the downtown.

“The more cars we capture in the canyon, the less congestion we

have in town,” she said.

Pearson-Schneider has been an advocate for the Village Entrance

project since she served on the Village Entrance Task Force as a

member of the Planning Commission.

“Business and arts venues are finally going to get the year-round

parking support they need. This is one of the main reasons I ran for

office. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am.”

The task force, which met for more than a year, supported fewer

than 400 parking spaces at the Village Entrance.

Planning Commissioner Bob Chapman said if the compromise number of

580 spaces was reduced, room might be found on the site for the

city’s proposed Community Center, which he said belongs next to City

Hall, not on Third Street, as proposed.

The compromise, which Pearson-Schneider and Iseman will present to

the council, includes, beside the parking garage, “the vision” of a

park and pedestrian pathway on the north side of Laguna Canyon Creek,

that runs along Laguna Canyon Road, a parking structure pushed

against the hill next City Hall, peripheral parking at Act V, while

minimizing environmental impact of construction on the open space at

that site.

The city is expected to have its plans in front of the Coastal

Commission in June.

* BARBARA DIAMOND is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. She may be reached at (949) 494-4321.