Last week, Village Laguna hosted a well-attended meeting about Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and their impact on Laguna Beach residents.
Assemblywoman Diane Dixon, Laguna Beach Community Development Director Marc Wiener and councilmembers Weiss and Rounaghi participated in the conversation and answered questions from concerned citizens.
We learned that there is much work to do to protect our village atmosphere from state mandates. These mandates allow the construction of ADUs without Design Review. They waive requirements for additional parking spaces for tenants occupying the new ADUs and don’t require replacement parking if an ADU is built in a garage. Even though these measures are intended to address California’s housing crisis, they don’t require that the units be affordable or even that they are rented. These measures can simply be used to circumvent the Design Review process and thwart neighborhood input. A pending example of a proposed 2-story view-blocking ADU has alarmed North Laguna neighbors.
Diane Dixon urged our city council to use our consultant to lobby against taking local control away from cities and to send her letters supporting her positions. She indicated we must be more proactive and assertive. Because we are in a high fire zone and an older city with narrow streets, not requiring parking for ADUs could make emergencies extremely dangerous. Marc, George and Alex heard concerns and possible solutions. We trust they will work diligently and quickly to address these issues and prevent invasive state laws from negatively impacting our town.
If you are as concerned as we are about the negative impacts of ADUs on our neighborhoods, email our city council members at [email protected] and encourage them to take action. To view the Village Laguna Zoom meeting, go to our website, villagelaguna.org and look under “Learn More.”
Anne Caenn, Village Laguna President
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Excellent letter Anne. I have received thoughtful help from Diane Dixon’s Office in seeing that Laguna as.Lead Agency is accountable on some CEQA projects. Council Member Weiss also does a very thoughtful job of representing our property rights, however Marc Wiener, In my opinion does not represent residents best interests. Just look at the Sweetwater project as one example. Please note that view preservation and equity are of no concern to Mr Wiener. Parking danger at 200 Alta Vista and 410 Alta Vista are also examples where CEQA exemptions on projects in Laguna endanger public and fire safety My comments do not represent views of my PR clients. Thank you. Anthony Fisch
Tony Fisch represents MOM LLC public relations – Ed.