I don’t know council candidate Ruben Flores personally and have no opinion about his character. I do however have an opinion about the point of view he would bring to the council, based on direct observation.
A few years ago a neighbor on our short cul-de-sac street a few minutes’ walk above downtown purchased the empty lot across the street and made plans to build a new home. Many of us neighbors had significant issues with the plans and raised those issues when the project came before DRB. Over a series of meetings the owner made many accommodations, we the neighbors made compromises, and the end result was a new home that everyone involved came away satisfied with – just the way the DRB process is supposed to work.
One of the peculiar issues of the project was that a very large Canary Island palm was smack dab in the middle of the lot. It had to either be removed or relocated in order to build any house. Notwithstanding that a nursery was willing to buy and remove it, the owner offered to build a large elevated tree well so that the palm could be relocated but kept at the same elevation in order to not impact neighbors’ ocean views.
But that wasn’t good enough for Mr. Flores, who lives nowhere near our quiet street. He showed up at the DRB and stated, presumably based in his horticultural expertise, that “moving the palm would probably kill it.” Instead he suggested that the proposed home should be redesigned around this non-native tree in the middle of the lot. (See minutes of the March 23, 2017 DRB meeting, page 17.) Literally, he was arguing that the tree’s rights were superior to the rights of the property owner.
Fortunately DRB did not listen to Mr. Flores. The home was built and the palm was relocated. Contrary to Mr. Flores expert opinion it not only survived, it has thrived.
It’s one thing to be a gadfly showing up at DRB meetings seeking to impose your personal design aesthetic on the homes of people you don’t live anywhere near. It’s an entirely different proposition to do the same from a position of power over the entire city. I think this should be considered as you vote for City Council candidates.
Thomas Berryman, Laguna Beach
