Group offers its own Village Entrance plan: bike path, landscaping, walkway

A group of Laguna Beach residents have their own vision of how to beautify the entry into downtown from Laguna Canyon Road.

A committee that includes members of Village Laguna, a preservationist organization, proposes a version of the Village Entrance Project that aligns with many of the public’s recommendations gathered during last week’s workshop — with a few tweaks.

Participants in the July 16 workshop favored renovating a Laguna Canyon Road median, along with keeping the historic sewer digester building and the morning glory-covered carports next to City Hall. They also said they preferred not to bridge a county-owned flood control channel.

At the workshop, landscape architect and former Laguna Beach Mayor Ann Christoph presented a rendering that features a two-way bicycle path on the east side of the flood channel, a garden courtyard surrounding the digester building and an undulating pedestrian walkway.

Christoph wrote in an email that during a Village Laguna meeting in February, concern was raised that the plan “approved by the council on Nov. 12 did not show the aesthetic and functional improvements the community has been hoping for.”

At that meeting, the City Council voted for a scaled-down project without a parking structure or debt — taking away two of the most controversial aspects of the plan. The cost of the project is estimated at $14.4 million. A design team has not yet been selected.

The proposal includes transforming a portion of the current asphalt-covered lot closest to Laguna Canyon Road into an overflow parking area made of decomposed granite. Since the area would be used for overflow parking only, the land could be landscaped and available for other uses most of the year, according to documents Christoph provided.

Public parking would be located behind the digester building and the carports, according to the plan, which received input from Verna Rollinger, former Laguna Beach councilwoman and city clerk; Ruben Flores, horticulturist, Laguna Nursery owner and Beautification Council chairman; Leah Vasquez, artist, canyon advocate and former arts commissioner; and Barbara Metzger, former planning commissioner and Design Review Board member.

“We feel this plan has many of the features that will make a more natural-looking entrance that represents the character of the canyon, which is what the [Festival of Arts] is also proposing” for a front facade and entrance area renovation, Christoph said.

Deputy City Manager Ben Siegel said he met with Christoph before the workshop but had not sufficiently evaluated the proposal. The city will include the group’s suggestions in a report to the council expected in September.

“Several features in the plan will be vetted during the design process, once the team is selected,” Siegel said in a phone interview. “There will be many opportunities for public input. We appreciate their interest in the project.”