Editor,
Since passing Ordinance 209 in 1940, the City of Laguna Beach has maintained a R-1 Residential Zone for “low-density, single family residential areas, which will provide a suitable environment for family life for residents.” The General Plan’s Chapter 25.10.002 “Residential Low Density Zone” explicitly identifies, “The zone is intended to provide a quiet living environment free from rooming and boarding houses, commercial and industrial activities…free from other than local vehicular traffic.”
We don’t need another new and costly ordinance to alter the General Plan and LCP (Local Coastal Plan). The City’s present administrative use permit (AUP) allowing short term rentals in R-1 zones is a clear violation of existing land use laws and LCP consistency. When will the city attorney advise the City Council to abandon illegal AUPs?
The principal justification for short term rentals in residential zones is to enhance individual personal incomes. Yet the cumulative impacts of allowing 100 new short term rentals is equivalent to adding a new hotel while removing the number of affordable rentals.
More service personnel to clean and launder 100 new tourist rentals will increase local traffic. CEQA analysis must consider impacts to local water demands, increased wastewater and sewage, traffic, crimes and enforcement costs. The City Council is presently unwilling to revoke even one AUP despite problems with one short term rental with 27 complaints. Will each short term rental house be handicap accessible? Who will pursue discrimination complaints?
Elected representatives are required to honor and apply existing laws approved since 1940 to protect residential zones for residents as a key private property right. Capitulating to threats of lawsuits by a few greedy landowners does not justify disrespect for Laguna’s traditional neighborhoods.
Where is Laguna’s smart and strong City Council leadership?
Mike Beanan, Laguna Beach
