Scouts strive to save house

The city of Laguna Beach needs $7 million to shore up Bluebird Canyon

in time for winter rains, and on Tuesday, the City Council will

consider selling eight city-owned lots -- including two occupied by

the Girl Scout House.

While the city needs the money, the Girl Scouts say they need

their house, which has stood for half a century on the site and

serves as a meeting place and headquarters for many Scouting

activities.

“I don’t think we should sell it because we’re selling it for one

reason and that reason will pass by and then our Scout house will be

gone forever,” said fourth grader Amanda Dial, a junior Girl Scout.

The Girl Scouts are planning a rally in support of their Scout

House from 10 a.m. to noon on Labor Day, Monday, at Main beach.

The single-story “cottage-type” structure has a main room, a

kitchen, a fireplace, and the complex includes a small amphitheater.

The city has leased the land on which the house stands to the Girl

Scouts for one dollar a year since the house -- which dates from the

1930s -- was moved to it’s current location on High street in the

mid-1950s.

A lease agreement was made in 2004 allowing the Girl Scouts to

continue leasing the land for $1 a year till June 30, 2007. At this

point the lease is still in affect, said City Manager Ken Frank. This

lease agreement allows either party to exit the lease with a 30 to 60

day notice.

City officials have told the Girl Scouts they could most likely

still occupy the house until January 2007 even if the land is sold.

The house is located on two of eight lots city officials would

like to sell to help pay for moving the park division operation and

the landslide reparations. The city is under great pressure to find

money to pay for reparations that need to be completed before winter

in order to ensure winter rains don’t cause further damage.

The total cost takes into account the costs of restoring the

drainage channel, the stabilization of the landscape, and the

winterization of the slide including miscellaneous costs. These are

estimated to cost around $3,500,000, $2,000,000, and $700,000

respectively, totaling to around $7 million. Winterization and the

other repairs will hopefully be finished by November first.

Frank’s proposal may be a difficult sale to the Council.”I very

much want to avoid selling the property,” said Councilwoman Jane

Egly. “Selling the property would only help in the short term, and

then it would actually turn out worse in the long term. If we sell

it, the land is gone forever. I think we should really look at a tax.

I don’t know of what kind yet, but it will turn out worse if we sell

land now.”

But Frank says the city is in a bind.

“We don’t have any choice,” Frank said. “We need the money from

the sales of multiple lots. As far as the Girl Scout house is

concerned, we have to find money somewhere, and nobody seems to have

a great idea of where to find $2 million, so I don’t think there is

any choice.”

The price values of each of the eight lots vary, but are estimated

to be around $800,000 to $900,000 each. If all eight lots are sold,

they could provide $6.4 million to $7.2 million. But all these

proceeds are not slated to go toward the landslide.

Five of the lots suggested to be sold are occupied by the parks

division operation. The proceeds from these sales would go directly

to moving the operation to the Act V parking lot on Laguna Canyon

Road, where the city is building a new city yard complex.

“That money is already all committed to the new corporation yard

project, the money form the other lots is not,” said Frank.

After the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s recent decision to

refuse federal funds for the landslide, the desire to sell the city’s

lots increased, but was not the impetus for the decision, according

to Frank.

“It [FEMA rejection of aid] certainly makes our financial position

precarious,” Frank said. “But even without the FEMA decision we still

need to find money for the permanent restoration of Flamingo. So we

are looking at every possible source. The FEMA decision just makes it

worse, but it was bad even before the FEMA decision. We need $5 to $8

million dollars more for the permanent restoration.”

The other three lots are the two on which the Scout house stands,

and another vacant lot on Poplar street. Proceeds from these sales

would go directly toward the emergency repairs, and the winterization

of the landslide area.

Scout leaders and others argue that, if the Girl Scout House land

is sold, Laguna would be losing what many consider to be a

significant part of the community.

“This was my scout house when I was growing up. I spent the night

here, and we had ceremonies here like our court of awards,” said

Stephanie Andrews, the Girl Scout Service Unit Manager for Laguna

Beach.

“People move to Laguna Beach because of its community feel, and

this is the kind of thing that makes it a community; having a place

for our children to meet for Scouts,” said Laural Dial, leader of

troop 2032.

“Its a tradition too because this has been here for 50 years.

Stephanie Andrews had her childhood experience here, and that’s what

we want for our kids too. We want them to have wonderful memories of

Laguna Beach, and this is one of them,” Dial said.

Girl Scouts have occupied the Girl Scout house since 1930. When it

was first built, it was located at Wilson and St. Anne Street. In the

mid 1950s, the Lions Club helped moved the house to where it stands

today, as a service project. It was the Laguna Beach Girl Scout

Council’s Headquarters until 1968 when the council merged with the

Orange County Girl Scout Council.

Today the Scout house serves as a meeting place for girl scout

troops, weekend events, adult leadership meetings, and training

sessions, on a regular basis. The house is also a place for

sleepovers, camping, parties, and various Girl Scout ceremonies. This

house has been used for functions other than girl scout meetings, and

community events as well. The house is also sometimes used as a place

to vote.

Girl Scout troops from all over Orange County come to the House

for group activities with Laguna Beach girl scouts, and the site

houses all the Girl Scouts from Daisies to adults.

More than 20 troops who occupy the house at different times of the

week earn their badges, and do most of their activities at the house.

The outside amphitheater is used for snack time, play time, learning

activities and ceremonies. Troops also use it for songs, and planting

lima beans to learn about how they grow. The inside of the house is

used for arts, crafts, baking, and many other activities in which the

girls participate.

“We make our costumes for the food fair too,” Dial said.

“My favorite thing was bridging into a Brownie,” said Josie Goson,

a junior girl scout in fourth grade.

The Scouts make place mats for the senior center, fill bags for

the homeless, hold cookouts, and rehearse their dance routine for the

annual international food festival at the Festival of the Arts.

“We have 17 girls in our troop and they all want something

different, so they learn how to mediate and compromise,’ said Seanne

Contursi, the mother of Nicolette, a Brownie.

“Our troop sent off items to our local marines in Iraq. We sent

cookies, socks, gum, and candy,” Andrews said.

Many of the girls who are juniors now plan to continue through the

cadet and senior levels (through age 17).

“My sister is a senior girl scout, and she got to go to Europe,”

Dial said.

At the same time, emotions and memories attached to the Girl Scout

house grow stronger.

“250 girls are in Girl Scouts. That’s a lot of families that are

being impacted,” Laural Dial said.

“I’m willing to bet all the Girl Scouts want to keep the house,”

said nine-year-old junior Girl Scout Ronnie Hinmon.

Girl Scout leaders and members of the Girl Scout Council of Orange

County met with assistant city manager John Pietig on Monday to

discuss possible alternative locations for the Girl Scouts to meet.

The Girl Scouts were offered a small lot in the canyon for storage

space, the location behind the Sea Lion Marine Mammal Center,

coordination with schools and or churches to be able to use different

rooms, or Legion Hall. But none of the locations met the criteria the

Girl Scouts need in order to be relocated, and have a real home for

the Girl Scouts.

“We need a dedicated site for use by the Girl Scouts only, not a

shared space. We need to have a kitchen, bathroom, shower, outside

space, inside space, and storage space,” said Katie Lang Slattery, a

lifetime Girl Scout, and troop leader.

Slattery -- whose father was Frederick M. Lang, namesake of Lang

Park -- has suggested dedicating half of the Lang Park buildings to

the Girl Scouts. However, city officials said it would interfere with

the classes that are currently held there.

Girl Scout leaders, parents, and members of the Girl Scout Council

of Orange County met Tuesday to discuss their plan of action for the

September 6th city council meeting, and to discuss the meeting with

city representatives that took place on Monday.

They discussed the necessity for more time to sort out a solution

and discussed the option of a possible tax for future disaster relief

as a way to preserve their Scout House.

“We need time to evaluate the alternatives,” Slattery said.