Mailbag: Because The Ranch is no Montage
A recent letter asked why, unlike a prior proposal by Montage Laguna Beach, The Ranch project does not include a public trail through the property (Mailbag, Oct. 17).
The Montage was indeed considering a potential trail in return for approval of their massive new development concept. I think it is worth reviewing the significant differences between the two submittals:
The Montage was proposing a $100 million development, which entailed completely demolishing the historic hotel and golf course. They were developing a huge new hotel and spa, moving tens of thousands of yards of soil, and were pushing back into existing open space with a brand new golf course, driving range and practice facility.
In addition, they were constructing dozens of large new homes lining the currently undeveloped hillsides on both sides of the creek back into the canyon. Given the scale of the project, both in terms of economics and the extensive degradation to the canyon, it was determined that there may have been a nexus which would require them to consider a trail.
Even so, it is critical to note that due to the significant safety concerns associated with golf balls traveling at high speed, Montage’s proposed trail carefully wound up through the Driftwood parcel, which they controlled but we do not have access to (along with several other separately owned parcels), and never once crossed a fairway or ran anywhere near the possible flight path of an errant golf ball.
Then this proposed Montage trail tucked safely into the hillside in the protected shadows behind the dozens of newly built 3,000-plus foot homes and new residential street on what is currently the natural seventh, eighth and ninth holes of our Ben Brown’s golf course.
Unlike Montage, we will not be constructing anything along these open hillsides. The letter also made reference to trails “running through golf courses … just take a walk near Pelican Hill.” The author may not be aware that the trail near Pelican never once runs through the golf course, and in the single instance when it gets anywhere near the course, it is completely caged with unsightly steel poles and dense mesh fencing, resembling the walls of a prison camp.
To erect anything like that in Aliso Canyon would be an aesthetic travesty, would ruin Laguna’s only golf experience and block the existing open wildlife corridors.
Credible studies of trails near golf courses discourage trails crossing any fairways or being within 200 yards or 180 degrees of tee boxes. Using their definition of these unacceptably dangerous areas, and because a trail in Aliso Canyon would cross six of our nine fairways and continually fall within golf ball flight paths, virtually every inch of our historic course would be deemed unsafe and infeasible for a trail. And contrary to the letter’s suggestion, our guests will also not be riding or hiking through the course. It isn’t safe for anyone.
Unlike the expansive Montage proposal, we are simply and sensitively restoring the existing hotel, utilizing the existing framing, footprints, rooflines, etc. We have reduced the area of structures by thousands of feet, and have just brought the existing buildings up to fire, health and safety codes. Further, we are not altering the layout, heritage or soul of the existing golf course in any way.
Preservation of this iconic property is precisely the reason we’re involved. This is why our restoration is supported by an overwhelming majority of Laguna residents as evidenced by the thousands of signatures on our petitions, the dozens of letters urging approval from local environmental stakeholders and the hundreds of who took the day off from work or school to attend a recent Coastal Commission meeting in what commissioners called an “unprecedented” display of community support.
As correctly pointed out in the letter, there are hundreds of trails in and around Laguna, including existing mapped trails already connecting Aliso & Wood Canyon Wilderness Park to the Coast.
However, we have exactly one golf course in Laguna. It’s only nine holes, but with an average of 56,000 rounds per year, it is one of the most frequently enjoyed in the county. Everyone who plays there will tell you it is magic and they are thankful that we have preserved it just the way it is.
Mark Christy
Owner of The Ranch in Laguna Beach
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Normandin earned my vote for school board
I attended the recent Laguna Beach School Board Candidate Forum and was pleased by the many questions that were asked of the panel.
Clearly Carol Normandin and Ketta Brown were the most prepared and knowledgeable on all the issues. Carol Normandin, especially, spoke with professionalism, knowledge, poise, leadership, compassion, and authority.
To me, this shows that she had already taken the time to go deep on the issues, had talked to numerous stakeholders, had drawn reasonable conclusions, and had years of volunteer and solid professional experience relevant to what we need on the school board to make our schools better.
I look at this voting decision the same way I look at a job interview — I want to hire the smartest, most dedicated, most communicative and most passionate person who can work with and lead a team. Carol Normandin gets this nod, as well as Ketta Brown and Dee Perry, albeit to a lesser extent.
In my opinion, no answer of Annette Gibson in the forum even came close to demonstrating any capability to qualify her to work for me, and my kids, on the school board. When asked about teaching computer coding in the schools, it was Gibson who gave an answer about how kids shouldn’t read books on iPads and should instead read paper books.
That left me wondering if she even knows what coding is and why it should be taught. In any event, she either doesn’t know, or chose to instead give an answer revealing an agenda against certain uses of technology by our students.
I did not hear Gibson talk about any other professional accomplishment, or any involvement at all in the Laguna Beach community, when the other three candidates have plenty. I could tell that Gibson has strong views on the Common Core curriculum, but in my opinion, this is a radical and divisive partisan political agenda from outside of our district — that is no justification to win my vote, and indeed, is the opposite, a sound reason to avoid giving my vote to Gibson.
I don’t support giving control of our schools to anyone who is unqualified and who has an outside political ax to grind.
Keith Newburry
Laguna Beach
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Incumbents can preserve best of Laguna
Laguna Beach has changed a lot over the past decade and 40% of our current residents didn’t live here 10 years ago, which likely means many of them don’t know the background of city issues currently in play.
It’s a dilemma suffered by many attractive tourist towns: Newcomers arrive because they visit first and fall in love. Then they try to change it. Laguna Beach could be next to suffer this fate. And that’s exactly the situation where incumbent City Council members can make the most difference.
Rampant development along much of the coast, including high-rises, has obscured the natural beauty of our coastline. Yet Laguna Beach still preserves some ocean views from Coast Highway and a dearth of towering monuments to whatever developer installs them.
That has been possible, in part, because of the 36-foot height limit instituted after the Surf and Sand added its towers many years ago. Even the Montage had to meet some pretty stringent requests from the city to create that landmark resort. But the 36-foot limit is now under siege from some City Council candidates and from would-be developers waiting at our border to devour the town should that limit be removed.
In a city where view preservation is almost a religion, why would anyone support a candidate who wants to dismantle the very thing that makes Laguna unique? And why would a candidate who claims to have helped bring Montage to the city want to undermine Laguna’s other unique attributes?
The two incumbents running for reelection do know the history and do understand the importance of preserving unique aspects of Laguna — whether it’s Main Beach and height limits or the careful redevelopment of what is now called The Ranch.
Kelly Boyd and Toni Iseman may not agree politically on every issue, but they both have a unique understanding of the history and reasoning behind what has made Laguna Beach so universally loved. Iseman also has served on the California Coastal Commission and is keenly aware of the delicate balance between development and preservation.
Of course, new ideas are crucial to a vibrant community, provided they are placed within the framework of what already exists and what is possible instead of a toss-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach.
Creative solutions like Iseman’s to convert the trolleys from fee to free are often a big hit and still a benefit to the city.
Similarly, having experience should not be a drawback when it comes to our future. As a member of a city committee, I see the value of such experience on a regular basis. I hope Laguna voters are savvy enough to remember that as they choose whether to vote for one, two or three candidates when they cast their votes for City Council.
Sandi Cain
Laguna Beach
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Voters should consider trustworthiness
All candidates for City Council should be commended for undertaking the arduous process of a campaign, where they are relentlessly questioned about every detail of their platform and qualifications. All for the dubious reward of yet more and harsher criticism for their decisions as council members. But they knew this going in.
So public scrutiny of Jon Madison’s credentials is not an ambush. If anything, he has been consistently acclaimed as a successful business man, generous philanthropist, and all-around good guy. But he has to play by the rules, and it would be a hugely unfair advantage to claim an Ivy League PhD, a professorship, and a UCLA law degree, none of which his rivals have, none of which he can prove.
Cornell and UCLA Law School registrars have repeatedly stated that there are no records of his attendance, much less awarding of any degrees. His claim that he earned a BS, MS, and PhD in five years is not credible.
A picture of his final diploma from Cornell does not appear authentic. The signatures are not those of any deans or presidents to have held those offices. The graduation date doesn’t match the historical record. The “PhD in Horticulture” assumes there was a Department of Horticulture in 1979, which there wasn’t.
Finally, a Google Image search of diplomas demonstrates that college diplomas never abbreviate the words Associate, Bachelor, Master, or Doctor of Philosophy. It would be bad grammar, and cheapen the appearance of a hard-won, formal, legal document.
Madison’s unproven claims disqualify him, and raise doubts about the integrity of the election. Of the remaining six candidates, five have the credentials and experience to inspire confidence that they would be competent and ethical council members. Pick any three.
Joel Harrison
Laguna Beach
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Campaign letters just reiterate the obvious
I think it is time for the local newspapers to stop publishing candidate-related political letters during election campaigns, with a possible exception of letters about truly newsworthy topics, subject to the same criteria editors use for news articles.
Candidate letters add nothing to either the debate or voters’ actual knowledge of the candidate: The friends and supporters of one candidate write gushing encomiums extolling the purported virtues of their candidates, and/or “hit pieces” attacking the knowledge, intentions, history or morals of their candidates’ opponents.
Martha Lydick of the Laguna Beach Republicans supports the two Republican candidates. Surprise. Village Laguna members support Toni Iseman. Another surprise.
Such letters are all meaningless expressions of one person’s political biases, and merely a form of free advertising for candidates and are also subject to letter writing campaigns to create the impression of broad support, whether or not true: A candidate with a hundred supporters can easily generate a dozen letters, while a candidate with thousands of supporters might not.
Candidates for office have many means of communicating with the public; letters should be limited to actual public issues — and while, of course, local elections are the most important political issue of all, their particular nature makes newspaper letters ineffective.
Gene Gratz
Laguna Beach
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