The Laguna Beach Planning Commission recommended Wednesday that city officials take a closer look at six publicly-owned properties for affordable housing, emphasizing that a parking structure is needed to make downtown sites feasible.
In addition to other Orange County cities, state housing officials are requiring Laguna Beach to plan for 394 additional residential units, including at least 198 units set aside for low- or very-low-income residents over the next eight years. Given the high cost of real estate, the Housing & Human Services Committee has zeroed in on land owned by the city and Laguna Beach Unified School District to help lower the construction cost for nonprofit builders.
Planning commissioners quickly agreed to ditch designs that would have added very-low and low-income units at the Laguna Beach Dog Park. However, plans that would add up to 126 units on other public land in Laguna Canyon remain under consideration despite public comments concerned about “ghettoizing” lower-income families or elderly residents into one neighborhood.
Commissioner Susan McLintock Whitin said she supports, “integrating people into the fabric of the community rather than isolating them out in the Canyon so you have a much more balanced picture.”
In her opinion, there’s total support for affordable housing in Laguna Beach.
“I don’t know who is pushing back on the idea of affordable housing but we’re certainly not on the Commission,” Whitin said.
The Laguna Beach housing committee considered all potential sites for affordable housing within the city limits during a months-long investigation that included discussions with landowners and nonprofit builders.
“We understand for affordable housing to happen in Laguna Beach, it needs to happen on land that’s owned by the City or School District,” said Alex Rounaghi, chair of the Laguna Beach Housing & Human Services Committee. “The key thing for the residents of Laguna to understand is we’re not saying one site is better than the other.”
Ultimately, the City Council will decide what proposed sites should be added to the Housing Element update that’s due to the California Dept. of Housing and Community Development by February 2022. The public will have opportunities to weigh in on the housing plans at several public meetings.
“It’s highly unlikely that the council would move forward with more than one site in the Canyon, if any,” Rounaghi wrote in a text message Tuesday.
It’s noteworthy that the presentation attached to the Aug. 25 agenda outlines possibilities for the Laguna Canyon properties including site plan sketches, numbers of onsite parking spaces, and the potential square footage of apartments and shared amenities.
The school district’s bus yard at 2003 Laguna Canyon Road could host as many as 68 one- , two-, and three-bedroom units on the 1.4-acre site, according to the committee’s report. Under this scenario, school bus parking and maintenance would likely be relocated to the Act V parking lot. The City Council and school board discussed the idea during a joint session in July.
Additionally, the city has created a plan to develop up to 58 one- , two-, and three-bedroom units on the Act V parking lot next to the Public Works Yard. In an alternative concept, the city could build 45 residential units next to a four-story public parking structure containing 332 parking spaces and serviced by a trolley loading plaza.
Elsewhere in town, the housing committee has looked at redeveloping the Vista Aliso senior housing community, which sits on school district-owned land. By building up to three stories within the current footprint, officials say they could add at least 46 senior units to the site. National Church Residences, a nonprofit national entity has a land lease through 2041 and expressed support in adding units to accommodate more elderly residents, according to a staff report.
City officials have also studied adding smaller senior housing projects on city-owned parking lots in Downtown Laguna. However, there was broad concern among commissioners that plans to build fewer than 25 units on a site would make projects financially infeasible for nonprofit developers. Commissioner Ken Sadler said building two levels of apartments above ground-floor parking would likely clash with the downtown’s historic village character.
Diane Valentino, 68, said she qualifies for affordable housing as a low-income artist and senior citizen. The 17-year Sawdust Art Festival exhibitor pleaded with city officials to take action that will persevere Laguna Beach’s network of artists.
“I was able to stay in this town for a long time through … the grace of God, friends and people who directed me and gave me housing,” Valentino said. “Over the last year and a half, I’ve been not been able to stay permanently in Laguna Beach… In order to exhibit at the Sawdust, I’ve been sleeping on people’s sofas and moving from family to friends in Laguna Beach and the surrounding area. And this is such a concern. Artists in this town are such a big part of what has made this town.”
Penny Milne, president of Laguna Beach Canyon Alliance of Neighborhoods Defense Organization, said all three proposed sites in Laguna Canyon would endure similar challenges of very high fire risk, flood control, and encroaching on state-recognized environmentally sensitive habitat.
“We’ve talked about how responsible development is integrated and incremental,” Milne said. “I understand that provides a challenge in providing the extremely low-income end because that won’t occur organically. That does not mean land on the banks of an environmentally-sensitive creek is where these problems should be solved.”
Some city leaders and supporters of planning for affordable housing have warned that Laguna Beach could eventually risk having state officials unilaterally approve projects if the City Council fails to implement its mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation. Milne said this argument is overblown and pointed out Laguna Beach has never missed a deadline to update its Housing Element.
“The idea that we’re teetering on the edge of losing local control to the state is ridiculous,” Milne said.
I hope the Laguna Beach planning commission is doing this correct. Studios should be no more the 400 sqft, 1 beds 500sqft. Remember most local rentals are tiny so any affordable unit should be just as small. It would make no sense to give more space to government mandated units vs what people actually have to rent. Also the canyon is the prefect location, especially when you now have people in the autobon advertising their houses for sales as a Laguna beach property. If they can claim Laguna beach, and the land is the cheapest there, that’s the solution.
It’s a very tired story: “I’m a poor artist living on people couches”. (?) Being a mere artist isn’t what it used to be, nowadays if you’re not good you can’t sell. And you blame housing costs? Hobby Art at Sawdust is not a feature of Laguna, it’s a subsidized non-profit that limps along housing tired amateurs who do nothing else and lay around all year. Attitude adjustment time herein begins today. Make Laguna Great Again and don’t coddle the wannabes who’ve blown a great market opportunity.
Guess NIMBYism is alive and doing well($$$$$$$$$) in Laguna Beach.
ALL sites should be considered. What is the SPECIFIC reason the Commission already excluded the city owned dog park? Do we value dogs over that of humans?
And just to be clear: any site in Laguna is ‘fire hazard, creek hazard, habitat hazard, landslide hazard, noise hazard, too-built-out hazard…’
Build it ALL!
Excuse me, Mr. OR Ms. Martinique….your reply is born of ignorance. MANY long time and successful LB artists are in the same boat as I am…..Please come on down to the Sawdust and meet me…booth #108…I have had a VERY successful summer, yet it does not all me to rent as I have for the last 19 years….in 2018 my 2 br 2 ba house in the Canyon cost $1800/mth, which I shared with my daughter and grandson….a 2br 1 ba on the same street was just listed for $3400/mth.
THAT is the problem….I work all year, including at a store in town, and have been active in the community, served on boards for 20+ years, AND cofounded /ran a local artist co-op gallery for 4 yeats, tho you assume that I am lazy…you have no clue…your lack of understanding IS part of the problem…
Another joke about Laguna is that local artists have “made this town”. Yea, people come on vacation to the Montage to see local art! That might have been true 40 years ago. Now we have local yokel liberals who literally can’t get a job, and hang their hats on being ‘artists’ milk the term for anything they can get free from Sian Pochel. It’s clear we need Peter Blake to find a way to attract real artists to locate in Laguna and get rid of crafters at Sawdust. Replace it with a world class festival like Basel or The Armory. WORLD CLASS not Wyland.
The city could devise a plan to assist current homeowners in building ADUs in exchange for a rent limitation for a fixed period of time. This would disperse low income housing throughout town, not stuff yet another problem in the canyon.
Pre approved city plans and a grant from the city in exchange for the low rent agreement from homeowners would bring the development cost way down. A 20 year deed restriction would assure affordability. This would place the housing where it is needed, in our neighborhoods.
Ms. Valentino, your position to cling to the past, is out of step with current market trends. That’s why Laguna Beach is in trouble: too many old line artsies doing the same thing wrong over and over. Our concern is not for how long artists endured their poverty by Sawdust standards. No one with a business could sustain living in Laguna on a couple hundred bucks a week in sales. If you couldn’t get your business together in 20 years, seeing increased livin expenses, I’d say you need help in finding a new path forward, instead of furthre burdening your daughter who should have her own family concerns without you. If rents have doubled and your sales price have not, anywhere else that’s a clear indication of failure, even if you’re working for minumum wage in a store downtown. Activity in the community, serving on boards, and managing a co-op of other artists who can’t sell, is not a job Ma’am; It’s another clear falacy of how much free time you have due to the true lack of demand for your art. You’re more concerned with sustaining failure than curing it. Sorry, just the facts – – If you can’t afford rent, try somewhere less expensive. It’s a common issue these days. Even Tommy Bahama had to leave. You’re no better.
Wow there is some straight up cruelty going on here. While all the opinions here have merit, can we not have a healthy, reasonable debate without the belittling of people just trying to get by? Come on people, we can do better. I wonder if we would speak to each other face to face this way? Or if people would hide behind fake names, and whether the same person would assume several aliases? As for a a world class art exhibit, I support it, but who is going to implement it Ms. Chang (or whoever you are)? We will never attract world class artists to live here because we are not New York or LA. Our best hope is to foster the next generation of avant-garde artists by creating an affordable, even subsidized housing community for LCAD grads, something I write about in my next column.
Returning to the point of this report, the City of Laguna is going to sell very valuable land to subsidize developers who will provide “Low Cost Housing” to the needy. The needy are locals who can’t afford the cost of renting one of many apartments or buying a house. The City has no moral authority to sell land bought with the tax dollars of prosperous residents and redistribute that income to people masquerading as “artists” who are not prosperous. If they do that where will it end? Need LGBTG or Refugees or Immigrants? Laguna Socialism has hit a brick wall and those feeling the shock have to move on, pay their own way, or find private benefactors.
Hey Dick, not sure who you really are – and the tone of both Martinique and Chang suggest you are all the same person – but you sure seem angry and aggrieved and eager to trash working artists. What are your credentials to weigh in on this topic? What did you do to get here? You accuse Diane of “further burdening her daughter”? Are you serious?? Do you have any idea of their living situation? What kind of toxic human resorts to this kind of anonymous shaming? And how is that germane to a discussion of where to site mandated affordable housing? And nice try with the personal attack on me. That’s really a mature, effective comeback. As for Butow, I only to need thank him for making it perpetually affordable to live here rent-free in his head.
Dear Ms Valentino, Thank you for sharing your story. It’s unfortunate that these mansplaining cowards hiding behind their fake names have chosen to attack you rather than address the issues outlined by the story. I would much rather have you for a neighbor than any of them.
From reading these comments I must say the old line Laguna residents have missed the point and the boat. These new people, who have just as much right to their voice as the old guard who pontificates about their nobilities, are proving that there is hope for us. Thank you Indy for giving them a voice, even though they are being shouted down by other failing artists or event planners. Sell the land to open market developers who will bring more properity to our town instead of cow towing to placate failing artists, even though they are ‘working’.
Mr. Garry, for someone living low rent in a home owned by The Patricia Neprun Mels Trust it’s clear that you too cannot earn a living here in Laguna as an artist.
The article does not mention commercial vacancy rates, in 2017 I pulled these vacancy rates from sources since our Chamber of Commerce could not provide them. Given these vacancies, the PC recommendation to build parking structures for public housing is insane.
CBRE Research Q3 2017
Orange County Retail South County Vacancy 3.5%, Net Absorption 0.019%
Orange County Retail Overall Vacancy 3.6%, Net Absorption 2.5%
* Orange County Industrial South County Vacancy 1.7%, Net Absorption -0.39%
* Orange County Industrial Overall Vacancy 1.4%, Net Absorption -1.9%
AVISON YOUNG Market Report Q2 2017*
Laguna Beach/Niguel Retail Market Total Vacancy 7.4%, Net Absorption 0.31%
Orange County Retail Market Total Vacancy 11.4%, Net Absorption -0.11%
Laguna Beach/Niguel Industrial Market Leased 2.3%, Net Absorption -0.42%
Orange County Industrial Market Total Vacancy 2.9%, Net Absorption -0.88%
* New construction considered separately. Negative absorption indicates increasing vacancies
You all just proved what is now scientific fact. All comments here had valuable points but because of not understanding that discourse can be a HUMAN solution tool we use it as a weapon.
We keep talking at each other through our HUMAN CREATED SYSTEMS that give us identity (the politician, the artist, the businessperson, the humanitarian, the housewife, etc.)
The strongest system prevails, but we can not submit to a system that we created. Creatives know this. Even AI, economy and technology are systems that can be best used when RAISING our HUMAN POTENTIAL. Submit to them and humans self-destruct.
To the housing context: See our current world with its separation everywhere to create a false sense of safety. The danger is not togetherness, it is the separation of our humanness through systems. Therefore, creating housing systems where different kinds of people are separated is against human nature. Can anyone point out how and where separation into systems has really benefited humans in the end?
Would it not be wiser to remember how to live with each other according to our nature? We are a HUMAN ANIMAL that is supposed to never forget its nature like to be WITH OTHERS and like nature to ADAPT ORGANICALLY. This is not about positive thinking, it is about survival of our species.
Neuro scientists just started to prove consciousness and the system of humanity must be the first priority to use our system to serve us. The following quote by Steve de Shazer is now proven: “Problem talk creates problems, Solution talk creates solutions,” might be just what Laguna Beach needs to apply to move out of problem solving. #TheSmartofArt
I would love to have Laguna Beach see its potential in what it does not see. Its magical nature and its diversity of people. Laguna could be exemplary like a California Switzerland but it digs itself deeper and deeper in opposing groups. I just finished my latest book Michaell Magrutsche: The Smart of Art: A New Art Consciousness To Awaken Our Enthusiasm For Art https://bit.ly/TheSmartofArt In the processed I learned about our human potential respecting our human animal and its habitat our nature and earth. I try to make any decision according to those findings which by default allow me to be the best me that I can be. #Michaellart,#SelfAwareArt,#TheSmartofArt