14 lagunabeachindy . com JUNE 7 , 2024
GUEST OPINION :
Concerning City Council
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By Michele Monda
How do Laguna residents ensure that Laguna will maintain its smalltown charm ? That charm brings millions of visitors annually to Laguna , but it ’ s also the reason most people have moved here . We are unique , and the World Atlas even counts Laguna as one of the eight most walkable towns in Southern California .
Measure Q ( MQ ) was an attempt by residents to keep Laguna Laguna . It was about capping building height at 36 feet , limiting lot combinations , and requiring new development to provide adequate parking instead of making
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residents foot the bill . Research shows that building parking structures and widening highways just creates induced demand . It doesn ’ t fix our parking problem .
The City Council majority , along with their deep-pocket developer allies and the Chamber of Commerce , spent over $ 275,000 to defeat MQ . To ensure defeat , this council majority also came up with Ordinance 1675 , a much watered-down version of the goals of MQ . 1675 caps building height at 36 feet , no lot mergers greater than 15,000 sq . ft . within 500 feet of the Downtown Specific Plan , design standards for all buildings 15,000 sq . ft or larger ( which can be manipulated ) and a limited ability to obtain variances . No mention of parking requirements because the council majority was and still is angling for resident funded parking structures .
Ordinance 1675 passed Aug . 16 , 2022 , 3-2 with Iseman and Weiss abstaining , and was implemented on Aug . 29 , 2022 just before residents voted on Measure Q . On Aug . 26 , 2024 a successful referendum to repeal this ordinance was sponsored by developer and signature collector Mo Honarker . This effectively forced the city to
refrain from implementing 1675 . The first chance to put this to a vote of the people would have been this election , Nov . 5 , 2024 .
However , City Council decided on May 28 to repeal Ordinance 1675 making the referendum vote a moot issue . The council majority ( actually , the only three councilmembers in the room ) voted this down . Why ? According to City Attorney Garibaldi , this ordinance could potentially violate SB330 , a new state housing law . There is also the possibility that Mo Honarker would sue . She stated that if it was voted for by residents , it could only be revised or amended by another vote of residents to comply with SB330 . If a lawsuit was filed , wouldn ’ t the judge simply order removal of the section violating state law ? But repealing Ordinance 1675 means that another closely related ordinance can not be voted on for one year .
Supporters of Q recognize that this is still just window dressing and that Ordinance 1675 was just a way for the council majority to say they were concerned about the look of Laguna and were doing something about it . Yet Ordinance 1675 explicitly enabled buildings of any size as long
as they were variegated- but decided at the discretion of the Planning Commission . Developers got around the 36-foot height limit , which Village Laguna fought so hard for , by calling the decks and umbrellas “ temporary .” Despite having these same provisions for many years in our building code – it was even included in the Vision 2030 plan done in 2001 - developers have used these loopholes . This is exactly why Measure Q came about – because it had teeth and would have held everyone accountable if the provisions weren ’ t followed .
Councilmembers Kempf , Whalen and Rounaghi all voiced their approval for the provisions of Ordinance 1675 . Rounaghi wants them as part of the Comprehensive Zoning Code Update and not as a stand-alone ordinance . If it ’ s included as part of the zoning code , presumably , it would not have to wait a year to be implemented since it ’ s not a stand-alone ordinance . The question is : How serious are these three Councilmembers about making these provisions ironclad in our building codes ? Will they agree to strengthen the wording so that the provisions
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