Out Of The Blue: How about a moratorium on moratoriums?

Last month, Santa Monica — spurred by slow-growth advocates — rescinded the development of a 765,000-square-foot residential, office and retail development called the Hines 26th Street project, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It would have been served by the subway, but residents say they are already choked by traffic from unchecked development. This city of 90,000 already has in the pipeline more than 30 projects that will add nearly 3 million square feet of residential, office and retail space, according to The Times. No wonder residents are worried.

Now contrast that with our own managed-growth conundrum.

The Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday took the unusual step of considering a two-year moratorium on any Laguna Canyon development until a specific plan is written to better define what the highly subjective “small scale” means in this light-industrial zone.

The recommendation came after the approval of the highly contentious 30-unit artist live-work project. A proposed storage facility was quickly vetted and killed, and now a 40-unit homeless shelter has been proposed.

According to a staff report, “The primary purpose of a moratorium is to defer decisions on pending or future project applications while the city studies the subject, evaluates possible regulatory options and considers the adoption of new permanent regulations.”

What? More studies? Is it Groundhog Day all over again?

Laguna is about a quarter of the size of Santa Monica, yet we considered a two-year moratorium on development because of two projects totaling 30,000 square feet? That’s a fraction of what’s happening in Santa Monica, and the city to the north doesn’t have an open, industrial corridor like Laguna Canyon Road.

I feel for the canyon residents. Most enjoy a bucolic environment because they are set off the road and deep into the canyon. Of course they want to protect against over-development, more congestion, unsafe passage and undesirable neighbors.

But every city needs an industrial corridor. Ours happens to be in the canyon, which is lined with auto repair and storage facilities, animal hospitals and small factories. People who live there make that choice. Just as people who choose to live near bars must contend with noise and unsavory behavior, and houses on bluffs overlooking firepits will get smoke.

But trying to blindly stop all projects is counterproductive to the progress a dynamic city needs to make. There’s certainly no place for mixed-use monoliths created by unscrupulous developers. But what has been considered so far is corrective action to help foster the next generation of Laguna artists, and to put a roof over some of our most disenfranchised residents.

I don’t know if Laguna Canyon is the best location for a homeless shelter. The homeless have limited mobility, and it’s not a safe road to walk. But if not there, then where? The problem is so profound that it really warrants an entire homeless complex at El Toro. But what are the chances of that?

We elect our government officials on the premise that they can get things done and judge the merit of each project individually. Luckily, on Tuesday night, council members agreed and killed the moratorium idea. They could have eliminated about three hours of their eight hours in the chamber had they vetoed this idea in the first place.

Now they can focus on the real task at hand, our homeless problem. I hope they can cut through the red tape, studies, opposition and costs that keep good things from happening in Laguna. I hope they do the right thing by putting a roof over the heads of at least 40 poor souls — it would cost us far more to leave them on the street.

Just as everyone in a developed country deserves affordable healthcare, so do they deserve a place to live. Laguna needs to extend its privileged hand to those with less good fortune, lest we become an insular, homogenized community of “haves” who have climbed the ladder to success only to pull it up behind us.

BILLY FRIED has a show on KX93.5 from 9 to 10 p.m. Thursdays called “Laguna Talks.” He is the chief paddling officer of La Vida Laguna and a member of the board of Transition Laguna. He can be reached at billy@lavidalaguna.com.