Underground parking approved

The City Council added underground parking to the Pottery Shack

project but had to subtract a historic building to do it.

A previously approved plan was amended to allow Pottery Shack

owner Joe Hanauer to tear down the E-rated building along the

Glenneyre side of the multi-parcel property at 1212 S. Coast Highway

to double the number of parking spaces on the site to 82.

Hanauer had sought to give away the two-story structure but has

not been able to find a taker.

“Toni [Councilwoman Iseman] and I went to him and asked him to put

in underground parking, perhaps in partnership with the city, but

when we learned how expensive it would be, we said, ‘Let’s not do

that,’” Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said. “But he went ahead.

This adds more parking in a neighborhood that desperately needs it.”

The amended plan also included the construction of a new

4,533-square-foot building on the site, re-approved the 53 percent

parking reduction granted in return for the rehabilitation of the

historical buildings on the site, allowed parking in excess of the

project requirements to be leased, and adopted a declaration of

mitigated negative impact and a monitoring plan.

Council action reflected the planning commission, heritage

committee and design review board recommendations. The board approved

the demolition of the Glenneyre Street structure without the optional

90-day wait period.

The council voted unanimously to approve all but the 53% reduction

on parking requirements. Councilwoman Jane Egly opposed the

reduction, which Iseman removed from her motion to approve the

recommended action for a separate vote.

“The E-rated structure is the reason for the reduction,” Pottery

Shack neighbor Tom Girvin said.

“The heritage committee sold out by agreeing to the demolition of

the only historical building left on the site. This is a pet project

of the City Council.”

The council sent the underground proposal to be reviewed by the

planning commission, which voted 3-1 in favor of the amended project.

Commissioner Rob Zur Schmeide did not vote.

Commissioner Norm Grossman said the approval sold the soul of the

city for 33 spaces at a time when a traffic consultant has been hired

to look into parking issues in the neighborhood that residents call

the Village Flatland.

One solution being discussed is restricting nighttime parking to

vehicles with shoppers stickers, issued only to Laguna Beach

residents.

Flatland association members said the Pottery Shack project will

flood their streets with customers and employees.

A condition of the approval of the project was that employees and

customers will be able to park free on the site, but will not be

required to do so.

Those with parking stickers will be able to park on the streets at

night, even if the resident-only parking proposal is approved.

Commission Chair Anne Johnson said any vehicle parked on the site

is one fewer parked in the neighborhood.

Mayor Pro Tem Steven Dicterow, who twice previously voted against

the project, said he was voting for it this time because of the work

done by a task force he co-chairs with Councilwoman Egly on

neighborhood parking problems.

“Parking seems to rule in Laguna Beach,” Iseman said.

The 33 parking spaces approved for leasing will be restored to

public parking if needed, property owner Hanauer said.

Sixty-one conditions are attached to the approval of the Pottery

Shack project, including remodeling of existing buildings.

Conditional-use permits are reviewed annually, and more often if

written complaints are submitted.

If violations are verified, the city can revoke the permit.