At a Jan. 8 City Council meeting, during the consideration of an appeal from a Design Review Board decision, Councilmember Peter Blake, made the following comment:
“I think the person who is building has every right to build whatever they want to build within the envelope. So, I know that we talk about view equity and view preservation, but my feeling is, everyone has a right to build their house, and if you are taking away somebody’s view, that is part of your property right to do that. So, I have issues with “the first one got the view and the last one gets no view.”
Given Mr. Blake’s recent initiative to ask all DRB members to resign and then reapply so they could be reappointed by a new council majority, and because of his own approach as stated above, it is important that we all understand the nature of the threat we face.
Laguna has a decades-old tradition of protecting home owners’ rights, including ocean views. In fact, Laguna has laws that provide for view equity, which means that an owner or developer has the right to build a home with a view but must preserve the views of surrounding neighbors. Our civic leaders also crafted rules, regulations and an approval process to be sure that developers cannot simply take away neighbors’ views, privacy and destroy neighborhood compatibility simply to greatly enrich the value of their project at a subsequent sale.
Now, a well-financed group active in our Village is attempting to undo these protections.
Imagine what would happen if this effort succeeds—developers buy homes in our traditional neighborhoods and tear them down to build mansions while taking away neighbors’ ocean views. How do we protect residents when massive projects are proposed that have drastic impacts on our daily life?
A rule that says that the last builder gets the ocean view would make a mockery of our sense of community and forever change the character of Laguna.
Elections have consequences. We are about to experience the negative results of the last council election. If you fell for the misrepresentations and false promises from Liberate Laguna and its developer-backed candidate and feel threatened by this effort to take away our ocean views, do not worry. Let’s attend council meetings, talk to our city leaders and join neighborhood groups. Together we can resist this land grab.
Armando Baez, Laguna Beach
Listen up Laguna! Someone new to the City Council believes one’s quest to build a mega mansion trumps your cherished and protected views. Those of you who voted for ‘change’ may not like the changes that are coming….and let’s talk about that three story mega mall planned for the WHOLE block of Cliff to Jasimine on the beach side of North Coast Highway which will demolish the Royal Hawaiian and the beautifully designed late century building on the corner of Cliff and South Coast…which I’m sure the new City Council person will champion.
Well said, “elections have consequences”. Nearly 5K votes clearly fail to constitute a majority vote of the residents. The election results prove that residents are equally divided and foolish folks don’t care enough to review candidate statements or listen to their speeches and who is financing candidates before they vote. Residents receive the government they elect. Residents somehow elected a divided council and failed to elect the 3 most qualified candidates.