Briefly in Council

City Council gets reimbursed

The City Council approved almost $800 in reimbursements to themselves at the June 3 meeting.

“We pay a lot out of our own pockets to represent the city at events,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson said.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman got the ball rolling with a request to be reimbursed $65 to attend a leadership luncheon, which was approved by the council.

Councilman Kelly Boyd then asked if he, Pearson and Iseman could be paid back the $200 each paid out for the Human Relations Dinner “” and that was approved.

Iseman also was reimbursed for the $100 she paid to attend the Community Clinic event.

“People just don’t realize how many events we are invited to attend as elected officials of the city,” said Mayor Pro Tem Cheryl Kinsman, who reported attending the Laguna College of Art & Design’s Collectors Choice fundraiser and her husband’s participation in the Dave Le Bon Spring Golf Classic, hosted by Boyd to raise funds for local nonprofits.

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Ceanothus to get road extension

A road extension recommended by the Planning Commission to give access from the top of buildable lots off Ceanothus Drive was approved by the council June 3 as a less intrusive project than taking the access off the overburdened drive.

Iseman “” the only member of the council to oppose the extension “” deplored the amount of grading that would require 2,200 truckloads of exported dirt carted down the road.

However, the architect for the project told the council that grading was vastly reduced by the proposed extension.

Community Development Department Director John Montgomery said the commission felt it had enough information to recommend approval.

There was no public opposition voiced at the meeting.

“The developer has given us most of what we want,” neighbor Kathleen Givens said.

In return for the council’s approval of the project as proposed, including a variance, the developer agreed to reduce the lots from five to four and to a deed restriction banning second units on the lots, which under state law the applicant could have built on each of the lots.

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Mayor-supported night-light issue fails

The city will not pursue an ordinance designed to reduce unnecessary light pollution.

Iseman failed to get a council majority to vote for her proposal to explore an ordinance that would require existing businesses to install new light standards or retrofit old ones in their parking lots to direct light downward. Mayor Jane Egly supported the measure; Kinsman, Boyd and Pearson voted no.

Iseman presented the council with a New Yorker magazine article that refutes claims that night lighting “” considered environmentally damaging “” reduces crime.

However, lighting of streets, residences and unattended parking lots was felt by the council majority to be a safety issue.

“” Barbara Diamond