Edditor,
Congratulations to the City Council. The Laguna Canyon Road Task Force was designed to bring a representative cross section of the community together to address the future of the main entrance to Laguna Beach, Laguna Canyon Road. The Council spent close to $100,000 educating the task force members on all the options and the pros and cons of each.
The consultants that were hired by the council discovered that 60% of the vehicle trips on Laguna Canyon Road, neither originate nor terminate in Laguna Beach. In other words, these drivers are just driving through the city on the way to somewhere else. Making Laguna Canyon Road less congested and faster would only attract more pass-through traffic. I hope we will work with the Toll Road Agency and Caltrans to determine and eliminate the obstacles that cause drivers to come through town rather than driving directly to the toll road or freeways. That would truly reduce the congestion on Laguna Canyon Road.
The task force also came to a strong consensus on undergrounding the utilities and making Laguna Canyon Road safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Exploring opportunities for increased transit opportunities was also strongly favored. The task force strongly opposed new traffic lanes and any intrusion into Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and favored retaining the rural character of the area. The public input at the September 8, 2015 City Council meeting echoed the task force recommendations.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the City Council voted unanimously to transmit interest in the improvements recommended by the task force to Caltrans, OCTA and SCAG. Bringing a representative group of Laguna residents together to research and consider an issue important to all, can produce consensus. I commend the City Council for developing this process.
Verna Rollinger, Laguna Beach
The writer is a former city council member.
