Cottage transfer hearing delayed

City officials will comply with a California Coastal Commission staff opinion that the temporary relocation of the Third Street Cottages needs a coastal development permit.

The hitch in the relocation of the cottages to Laguna Canyon was announced in City Manager Ken Frank’s Jan. 4 update.

“While we disagree with this interpretation, rather than argue with the Commission staff, we have delayed the Planning Commission’s consideration until Jan. 24 and have noticed it for a Coastal Development Permit as well as a Temporary Use Permit,” Frank said.

Laguna Beach resident Devora Hertz requested the coastal commission’s intervention.

“I’ve read the Jan. 4 update, and using the word ‘interpretation’ makes it sound like it was not a decision based in fact, that it was a subjective statement,” Hertz said.

“But the law is clear. When you place a home on a property it is development, whether it is built there, remodeled there or moved there.”

Most of Laguna Beach falls within the boundaries of the California Coastal Zone and is therefore under the jurisdiction of the Coastal Commission. The city issues Coastal Development Permits which in many, but not all, cases may be appealed to the state commission.

A scheduled Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday to consider the city’s request for a Temporary Use Permit for the relocation was delayed two weeks. The delay will give city staff time to properly notice the application for the development permit as well as a temporary use Temporary Use Permit to temporarily store the cottages in the canyon until they are moved to a permanent site by new owners, as approved by the council.

Removal or demolition of all of the cottages has already been approved as part of the community senior center project.

Only four cottages are earmarked for relocation at city expense.

“The development permit is only for the relocation,” City Planning Department Assistant Director Ann Larson said.

Coastal Development permits are issued by the city. Findings must be made to approve the permit. The findings include no encroachment on coastal scenic resources. Projects must be done in a way that create no adverse effects.

Deer have been spotted in the open space adjacent to the proposed site on a city-owned parcel adjacent to open space at Big Bend during a biological study done for a huge storage facility.

However, the specific site is an area that was previously developed with single-family homes, according to Larson.

“It is not pristine,” she said.

Nor is the proposed site located in an area where the project is appealable to the Coastal Commission, Larson said.

Appealable areas are designated on a map dated Sept. 16, 1993, which was part of the Coastal Commission certification of the Laguna Beach Local Coastal Plan.

“We rely on that map when noticing projects,” Larson said.

Hertz said she is sympathetic to the senior’s goal of a center, but the law is clear about what is required to develop a property in Laguna.

“And we all must obey the law, even Ken Frank,” Hertz said.