Act V combatants see compromise

Barbara Diamond

City officials approved compromises Saturday at a community workshop

that moved the City Council and the public closer to agreement on the

configuration and location of the corporate yard, a bloody political

battlefield for a decade.

“We broke the log jam that had been causing the problems for

years,” said Councilwoman Toni Iseman.

Iseman served on the sub-committee, with Mayor Elizabeth

Pearson-Schneider, that worked with facilitator Delia Horwitz and

City Manager Ken Frank on the workshop’s purpose and format.

“We began to develop philosophical points of compromise on which

we could agree, rather than focusing on areas of disagreement,”

Pearson-Schneider said.

The 12 points of compromise:

1. A reduced footprint of the Maintenance Yard portion of the Act

V build-out.

2. Have multiple peripheral parking locations, at the north and

south ends of town.

3. Put some building(s) at Act V, to house operations.

4. Parking spaces at the Village Entrance could number less than

650.

5. Act V building to be shielded by landscape or distance (pushed

back on the parcel).

6. Parking and shuttle stop at Act V made easily recognizable.

7. “Rolling stock,” city wheels, not including police or fire

department vehicles, could be stored at Act. V.

8. Moving the vehicles from Act V to another location during

summer would be an option. For example, the school district bus

parking lot.

9. Some storage or offices could be at sites other than Act V, as

long as they are accessible operationally, aesthetically pleasing and

architecturally cohesive. For example: a structure next to the

Village Entrance parking garage; some of the Village Entrance

landscape space, in the parking garage entry way or on it’s facade.

10. Improve the looks of the remaining maintenance yard. Example:

remove the chain link fence along Forest Avenue.

11. If the footprint of the maintenance yard at Act V is reduced

in the back, the fuel modification zone would be reduced and less of

an issue.

12. It would be OK to have the fuel station at Act V, if the city

can also get 250 parking spaces on the site. Possibilities to

explore: widening the sides in front parking area and valet parking.

Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider and Councilwoman Toni Iseman

hammered out the 12 compromises in a series of meetings, first one on

one, and then with the facilitator and Frank, each giving up more

than she wanted and taking some hits for it.

“All the [public comment] cards that say stick with the old plan

... I wish you would just all leave,” Pearson-Schneider said. “This

has not been easy for me. What kind of position are you putting me

in?”

Another card read “Toni is blowing smoke.” Interesting, she

commented.

To make the compromise work, Pearson steeped back from her

long-held position and a 3 to 2 council majority position, that

everything in the Maintenance Yard had to go to Act V, to clear the

way for the Village Entrance envisioned 10 years ago by a task force,

on which she sat as a planning commissioner.

By day’s end on Saturday, Pearson-Schneider had reduced her

parking requirement of 650 vehicles at the Village Entrance to 575.

The task force only asked for about 400 spaces. Iseman started with a

commitment to 400 spaces at Act V and had conceded almost half the

number.

“Elizabeth said if she gave up spaces, I had to give up spaces,”

Iseman said.

Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman, also a member of the Village Entrance

Task Force, accepted most of the proposed compromises with the

proviso that the projects would have a champion at the California

Coastal Commission.

The 12 points were presented for the first time to the council and

the public at the workshop, held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the City

Council Chamber.

Additional suggestions came from the public and a six-member

resource panel, three each chosen by Iseman and Pearson-Schneider,

that represented groups in town that have voiced opinions on the

maintenance yard location.

Iseman chose Arnold Hano, Village Laguna; Carolyn Wood, Laguna

Canyon Conservancy and Parking, Traffic and Circulation Committee;

and former Mayor Ann Christoph, South Laguna Civic Assn. and Village

Laguna. Pearson-Schnieider selected Arts Alliance Chair and Arts

Commissioner Pat Kollenda, Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn. member Ed

Peterson and Chamber of Commerce past President and PTC Chair Ken

Delino.

Delino, who warned Councilman Steve Dicterow and Pearson-Schneider

they would pay at the ballot box for compromises on parking at the

Village Entrance, did not return to the panel after the lunch break

and was replaced by chamber board member Dave Sanford.

Iseman, Pearson-Schneider and Councilman Steve Dicterow will be up

for re-election in 2006.

The council unanimously agreed on compromise points two, four-10,

and 13-15, which were added at the workshop.

Council-added compromises:

Approaching the Laguna Beach College of Art & Design about city

use of its parking lot in summer in trade for the college’s winter

use of Act. V parking was tacked on as Point 13. The council also

agreed to consider a pedestrian bridge to span Laguna Canyon Road

from the Village Entrance to the Festival of Arts. Point 15 gave the

council the flexibility to explore ideas from the architects and

staff.

Kinsman was the lone vote against items one, three and 11. Item 12

was sent back to the sub-committee for refinement.

“We are doing fine philosophically, but the devil’s in the

details, and it’s a big devil,” City Manager Ken Frank said.

Issues still to be worked out:

1. How to rebuild the existing maintenance yard until the Village

Entrance build-out.

2. Determine if the 250 spaces specified in option 12 are for

Monday though Sunday or Friday through Sunday.

3. Safety issues.

4. Determine if the Village Entrance parking garage will be empty

most of the year.

The two projects have a multimillion dollar price tag. One

suggestion was to fund the Village Entrance by floating a bond,

figures from $8 million to $17 million were mentioned. Without firm

plans for either site, the bond amount is a moving target. Estimates

were based on old numbers and different plans.

A report on the projects is available on the city website,

https://www.lagunabeachcity.net, or for review in the city clerk’s

office at City Hall.