Council rejects project

The council rejected plans for another project at the corner of North Coast Highway and Cliff Drive Tuesday.

Deemed by the council as too large, with no green space and too narrow sidewalks on the highway side, the mixed-use, residential and retail project was sent back for revisions to the Planning Commission, which had approved it as presented in September.

The commission-approved project included a variance from the Mansionization Ordinance restricting the number of stories, which did not sit well with council members and residents opposed to the project.

“The granting of a variance requires the finding of special circumstance,” said former City Clerk Verna Rollinger. “There is no special circumstance associated with this property. Many of the lots have a similar slope.”

In a memo written on behalf of Village Laguna and read by Barbara Metzgar, Anne Caen stated the group’s position that the proposed project was too big for the site and likely to set an unwanted precedent in the neighborhood.

The memo also contended that a variance would not be needed if access was not taken off of Cliff Drive, which would be open to daylight and therefore considered a story under the terms of the Mansionization Ordinance.

“The ordinance was developed specifically for residential properties, and we did not even consider commercial projects,” Planning Commissioner Norm Grossman. “If a change is made in the ordinance, as requested by the council, this project would not require a variance.”

Community Development Director John Montgomery has already drafted a proposed change, which the commission is scheduled to review before the end of the year.

The commission considered the North Coast Highway project at three hearings.

“There was almost no opposition to the project at the hearings,” Grossman said.

Architect John Myefski said he had talked to 55 residents and attended both meetings of Laguna North Community Assn. (LANO) and North Laguna homeowners during the review process.

“I have worked on the project for 30 months, and I am very proud of it,” Myefski said.

He said even if not certified, the building would be LEEDs equivalent, which means it is built to environmentally sensitive standards.

According to Myefski, the project meets the height limit in feet and the parking requirements, exceeds the open space requirement and if the Cliff entrance to the parking garage goes away, the variance would go away.

The project does not violate the current ordinance in height, even when measured from the lowest point of the proposed parking garage access on Cliff, which drops off sharply from the highway.

“We have seen several projects for the site, and this is definitely the best,” said Councilwoman Elizabeth Schneider, a former Planning Commissioner and past president of the LANO.

“I can find the justification for the variance because of the topography and big time because of the safety “” and we do want to encourage underground parking,” Scheider said. “But I do have a problem with the mass and scale, maybe because I am used to seeing [the parcel] empty.”

In Village Laguna’s view, moving the entrance to the garage to the highway would be better for the residential area around the project.

“The entrance to the parking could be put on Coast Highway, but it would be both dangerous and ugly,” Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman said.

She also sympathized with project neighbor Dorothy Goldberg, who objected late in the process to the loss of some of her ocean view, and suggested lowering one corner of the project.

Another neighbor also told the council her view would be impacted, but she had not attended any commission hearings.

Kinsman did disagree with former Design Review Board member Ben Simon who criticized the architecture.

“At first glance this project appears to be as bland as a bologna sandwich,” Simon said. “Is this the future of our Eden we would like to see? Do we want to emulate Paris or Perris?”

Sidewalks to be installed around the project by the developer also came in for criticism.

“The sidewalks on Coast Highway are not adequate,” said Ed Merrilees, a McKnight Drive resident and vice president of Laguna North neighborhood association. “Ten feet is recommended in the resource document.”

The city’s Scenic Highway Resource Document is a guideline often cited, although not an official regulation.

Mayor Pro Tem Jane Egly, a North Laguna resident, said she walks in the neighborhood and would favor wider sidewalks fronting the project along the highway. However, she didn’t like the size of the project or the variance, and wanted the south end to come down in height to address Goldberg’s view issue.

Myefski chose to have the project returned to the Planning Commission rather than denied outright. The hearing will be publicly noticed.