Mayor Boyd Takes Reins

By Cassandra Reinhart, Special to the Independent

With utility undergrounding, historic preservation and a village entrance in the works, Laguna Beach’s new mayor and favorite son Kelly Boyd faces a full plate in 2018, which he says will be his last in public office. With over 16 cumulative years on the council, this is Boyd’s third stint as mayor, an appointment made by his council peers. His first city council term dates back to 1978 -1982. He ran again in 2006 after the urging of supporters.

“I had the time to do it, and people were after me to run. So I got permission from my wife and jumped in,” Boyd said.

Twelve years later, Boyd is still in his seat. He is a direct descendant of George Thurston, one of the original homesteaders of what would become the city of Laguna Beach. Thurston’s tract of land was granted in 1879 by President Rutherford B. Hayes, according to a 1996 homesteader’s map compiled by former resident Beryl Viebeck, based on Interior Department records.

Boyd’s roots run deep.

“He farmed until he left there and then later on he became a property owner, “ Boyd said of his grandfather. “He owned a part of Temple Hills, all of Mystic Hills, part of Park Avenue. Where the high school is, he donated that property to them, and my grandmother was one of the first school teachers,” said Boyd, of Marie Thurston. The city’s middle school now bears her name, Thurston Middle School. She was also the first principal of Laguna Beach Grade School in 1913.

“Nobody has Laguna DNA like Kelly has,” outgoing mayor and current City Council member Toni Iseman said.

After being drafted by the U.S. Army to a tour in Vietnam, Boyd returned home to Laguna to manage the Reef Liquor Store for a number of years before purchasing the iconic downtown Marine Room Tavern, a place he would own and operate for the next 25 years.

Boyd sold the Marine Room and retired in 2012, allowing him to focus more on his role as city councilman. To date, Boyd counts the creation of the view preservation ordinance and addressing the city’s homeless issues as some of his most important accomplishments on the council.

“Toni Iseman and I worked very hard on the homeless and that was a big thing for us because they were camping on the beaches,” Boyd said. “We started the alternative sleeping location.”

Looking ahead to his 2018 tenure as mayor, Boyd says utility undergrounding, historic preservation and the village entrance project will all be heavy-hitting city issues. As soon as November of next year, voters could head to the polls to decide whether they will pay up to $200 million to underground utility poles city-wide. Last week, elected officials agreed to develop two ballot measures about burying utility wires in both neighborhoods and evacuation routes.

“There are areas in this town that should come first and be undergrounded first,” Boyd said. “The escape routes are the most important thing.”

At the hearing last week, Boyd stressed to city staff the importance making clear to the public they won’t be asked to underwrite neighborhood undergrounding elsewhere if their street has already been completed.

“Like my neighborhood, we all undergrounded 20 years ago. Would I want to pay for everybody else’s undergrounding? Absolutely not.” Boyd said. “But I’d be willing to put in some money for the safety and exit issues.”

Iseman says Boyd will be instrumental in the city’s push to underground.

“Kelly will be an important voice for convincing the community the importance of passing the bond issue so we can underground utilities,” Iseman said. “He is a practical voice and you can always count on Kelly to summarize things in a meaningful way.”

Another hot-button issue, changes to the city’s historic preservation ordinance, will also be of high priority for Boyd in 2018. A proposed revision of historic preservation rules comes before the City Council in a special meeting Saturday, Dec. 16, at City Hall.

Boyd, an advocate for residents who believe their property rights include discretion over a historic designation, defends what he says were the original intentions of the ordinance.

“The way it started out originally- if you wanted it on, you could put it on, if you didn’t want it on, you could remove it,” Boyd said of the historic designation. “Amazingly enough they went around and picked out these homes and put them in categories and the people got stuck with that. And I just think that is wrong. To me it is a property rights issue. “

Boyd says of broader concern to him is the current political temperament in the United States. He sees the political unrest at the national level trickling down to Laguna.

“Council meetings have gotten a lot more contentious and people have gotten a lot more angry than in the past. And that scares me,” Boyd said. “I’ve never seen that before. They don’t seem to take a deep breath and think.”

Boyd cites family, retirement and health as a reason for hanging up his council title after 2018. For the last three years, Boyd has been in remission from multiple myeloma cancer, he says likely caused by exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Though his health is good at age 73, it is always on his mind.

“It doesn’t mean it won’t come back,” Boyd said. “I am not getting any younger. I don’t want to be sitting up there in my mid to late 70s drooling all over myself,” Boyd laughs.

Boyd plans long weeks at his second home in Palm Springs and more time with his two children, a step-daughter, three grandkids and his wife of 35 years, Michelle. And, of course, more time on the golf course.

“Twelve years is enough,” Boyd said.