By Lou Ponsi, Special to the Independent
Since implementing the Neighborhood and Environmental Protection Plan, more police officers have been deployed in neighborhoods, lifeguards are now on duty year-round at several beaches and trash is being picked up at increased intervals.
These, and other enhanced services have allowed Laguna Beach to confront visitors’ adverse impacts, said Senior Management Analyst Jeremy Frimond, who reported the plan’s progress to the City Council on Tuesday.
City officials have said a mitigation plan became necessary because of a sharp increase of visitors to the city, stemming in part from Southern Californians engaging in more outdoor activities due to the coronavirus along with the popularity of the city’s attractions.
“There are a lot of behavioral changes that we are going to promote when visiting Laguna,” Frimond said. “We’re also going to continue to educate businesses and residents about the programs here.”
The plan was approved by the council in March and went into effect in June.
“I remember when we first started working on this, when we were getting bombarded with Covid-related visitors,” said Mayor Pro Tem Sue Kempf, who first proposed the plan in January. “I think we have a good blueprint now to work from.”
Highlights of the plan include the recent formation of the Police Department’s Neighborhood Enhancement Team to focus on quality-of-life issues in the city.
The team includes two sergeants, two corporals, two community outreach officers, five park rangers and motor officers.
Additionally, the Marine Safety Department is lifeguarding year-round at Crescent Bay, Shaws Cove, Victoria Beach and Driftwood Neighborhood Beaches. By staffing towers in non-summer months, lifeguards reported making 186 rescues and 219 medical aids, according to a staff report. Augmenting OC Lifeguards on South Laguna’s beaches resulted in 109 rescues and 179 medical aids.
In total, the extra funding to Marine Safety provided 346 rescues and 425 medical aids. The Department also tallied thousands of preventative contacts with beach visitors displaying unsafe behavior.
As part of the new trail ambassador program, the city partnered with the Laguna Canyon Foundation to provide trail ambassadors at trailheads during peak usage hours between May 1 through Labor Day.
“Things have improved greatly.” said resident Gene Felder, president of Top of the World Neighborhood Association. “Prior to the council passing the Neighborhood Environmental Protection Plan, boy it was a zoo up here. We just had people who came out to the trailheads here in the wilderness park who had never been to a wilderness park and didn’t know how to behave. So the ambassadors from the Laguna Canyon Foundation helped a lot.”
The city also installed trash cans at 20 new locations and increase trash collection and cleaning took place in North Laguna, South Laguna and Top of the World neighborhoods for 25 weekends.
Signs were installed in the Alta Laguna neighborhood prohibiting park or trail access from the neighborhood.
Several city laws have also been implemented, prohibiting the storage of bicycles at Heisler Park and on Main Beach, expanding the abandonment of personal property in public spaces and modifying the operating hours of non-coastal community parks.
The Neighborhood and Environmental Protection Plan budget was $935,000 for Fiscal Year 2020-21 and is projected to be slightly over $1 million for Fiscal Year 2021-22. The plan is funded from the one-dollar increase in the city’s parking rates, which went into effect in February.
City law now prohibits the use of plastic straws and plastic containers on beaches and trails, feeding wild birds in city parks and the use of large shade structures on beaches to preserve sightlines of waves for public safety employees.
“We really want to find ways to find ways to understand and make data-driven decisions within this and understand how we can efficiently deploy resources as this program continues to evolve,” Frimond said.
The enhanced city services will also be included in future budget cycles, Frimond said.
“These are great results,” Mayor Bob Whalen said. “And I love the fact that the team is looking for more data points going forward so we can evaluate this.”
