Moving house could help Girl Scouts, city

I returned from my vacation and read the articles regarding the Girl

Scout House.

Unfortunately, the entire story did not get out, through no fault

of anyone’s. No one, including me, ever wanted to kick the Girl

Scouts out of Laguna Beach.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman and I always wanted to find another place

for them.

We have been struggling to come up with ideas, including looking

at real estate the city owns that could be sold to help repair

Bluebird Canyon.

One property is the one on which the Girl Scout House is located.

I have a proposal (which was communicated to the local Girl

Scouts) to see if we could move the Girl Scout House on Olive Street

to a property the city owns off Laguna Canyon Road, known as the

DeWitt property.

The property cannot be used for anything other than a public use,

after an existing house on it is torn down.

It is next to the wilderness and a great spot for the Girl Scouts.

(About 250 Girl Scouts use the hut in Laguna, and it is also used by

up to 20,000 scouts not in Laguna.)

By adopting this idea, we could sell the Olive Street property

(the Girl Scout House is on two lots) and raise $1.5 to $2 million to

finish the Bluebird Canyon winterization. We had hoped to get $1.2

million from FEMA; now we’re short.

It should be noted that the Girl Scout House is on land owned by

the city in an R-1 zone, next to six lots that we are selling to pay

for the city maintenance yard move and construction. (The maintenance

workers are in old, run-down, abominable conditions in the current

facilities.)

The existing Girl Scout House could be moved, or modular buildings

could be put on the land. I even offered to help with fundraising to

move the house.

The Girl Scouts could probably use this land forever.

This could be a win-win situation for the city and the Girl

Scouts.

I am open to other property sales and other ideas to help us meet

our immediate need of $1.2 million and the phase 2 need of $5 to $8

million.

o7Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider is mayor of Laguna Beach.

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