Archive for December 2017
Another Go-round on Preservation Rules
A yet-to-be assembled task force will tackle fine-tuning of proposed revisions to the city’s historic preservation ordinance, the Laguna Beach City Council decided at a packed special workshop. Establishing a planning process for owners of historic property to make changes to their homes remains the biggest unresolved hurdle to a rewrite of the city’s historic…
Read MoreReject Overly Complex Historic Preservation Rules
Editor, I read with interest the letter to the editor of Doug Cortez. Together with his comments at the Dec. 16 City Council meetings, facts become clear. First, the historical ordinance is an option not a mandate. The ordinance under consideration is egregious and costly, especially when thousands of Laguna Beach residents awake to find…
Read MoreSuccessful Historic Preservation Workshop
Congratulations to the Staff, Council, and Public for their participation in a successful Historic Workshop held Saturday, December 16th. It was truly the first meeting on this issue where I felt the interests of all concerned were heard and addressed. The upshot of the meeting was an agreement by the Council to form a Task…
Read MoreCouncil Should Reject Historical Preservation Ordinance
Editor, Please attend the 9 a.m. Dec. 16 City Council meeting. The Planning Commission ordinance revisions expands the definition of a “historical resource” under the CEQA law. Hundreds of homes in Laguna will become subject to time-consuming historical reviews at the owner’s expense. CEQA grants each city the discretion to enact, or not, an historical…
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