We at Laguna Residents First are so happy to have brought our Beautiful Laguna ballot initiative to the city of Laguna Beach for a decision on moving forward.
This true grassroots journey has taken three years and has engaged thousands of Laguna residents.
This journey began when 10 local community organizations came together in our love for Laguna and concern for its future. At the time, we felt threatened by the plans of a handful of big developers to change forever what we most love about Laguna.
The first Laguna Community Summit, sponsored by local community groups, engaged over 220 people in charting a future for Laguna Beach and generated over 400 ideas for moving forward.
These ideas revolved around three themes: protect our environment, preserve our heritage, and better manage large-scale development.
All summiteers were invited to volunteer to advance these ideas and over 60 residents said yes. A second summit was held about three months later and a consensus emerged to formalize a group, which later became Laguna Residents First, and engage direct democracy to save Laguna, which brings us to the ballot initiative.
A working group of about a dozen people took the handoff from the second summit and moved the ball down the field. These working sessions ultimately led to the development of the Beautiful Laguna ballot initiative that is before you now.
This ballot initiative has been vetted by many lawyers, community leaders and even by developers. It is rather dense reading (it’s going to be a law after all) that gets into the minutia of parking, traffic and other important issues. Its core message, however, is really quite simple: bring direct democracy to Laguna Beach. Specifically, it will, when voted into law:
· Empower Laguna residents to vote on very large commercial developments,
· Enable Laguna to grow and develop responsibly; honoring our heritage, protecting the environment, embracing responsible growth, and to
· Continue to allow residential properties of less than 10 units to be developed to meet housing needs, including low income.
When this ballot initiative is adopted into law this year, it will honor the hundreds of Laguna residents who worked to create and validate this ballot initiative and the thousands who support it.
Merrill Anderson
Assistant Treasurer, Laguna Residents First
