Council moves on grade reduction

City officials pitched safety as the main reason to discourage street

and driveway grades in excess of 12%.

The City Council voted 4-0 on Tuesday to approve a Local Coastal

Plan amendment requesting California Coastal Commission certification

and to adopt an ordinance amendment.

“In effect, this makes undeveloped hillsides de facto open space,”

property owner Paul Alione said.

City Manager Ken Frank said the ordinance affects only driveways

on buildable lots and does not alter the status of a legal building

site.

However, property owner Michelle Kesler said the ordinance does

make a difference.

“I just closed escrow on a lot,” Kesler said. “I was told this

wouldn’t affect my lot. But it will change how I have to build -- the

size, the driveway. I want just as nice a home as everyone else has.”

Under the amended ordinance, new driveway grades are limited to no

more than 10% for the first 20 feet -- which is the current standard

-- no more than 14 percent for the next 130 feet, and no more than

12% for any additional length.

The ordinance discourages construction of a road extension with

more than a 12% grade for the creation of new building sites and

prohibits new road extensions for the creation of building sites in

which the extension will have a grade greater than 14 percent.

A variance from code would be required for an extension that

proposes a grade between 12 and 14 percent.

“This is about safety,” Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman said. “The

Uniform Fire Code says it should be 10%, but our fire chief

grudgingly agreed to 12%.”

Village Laguna President Doug Reilly said his group supports the

amendments for safety reasons.

“Fire engines cannot easily make it up a 15% grade,” Reilly said.

Chief Mike Macey cited studies that showed a correlation between

safety and grades.

“Macey tells the council that that over 10 percent is unsafe, but

he lives within 100 feet of the same property as Iseman,” Alione

said.

Bryan Mashian, who was wrongly informed in writing that the

ordinance would take effect immediately after the first reading on

Aug. 2, said if the council was serious about public safety, it

should commission an environmental impact report.

“In 1999, [Mayor Pro Tem Steven] Dicterow said the argument is

supposed to be safety, but he had heard no empirical evidence to

support that,” Mashian said.

Dicterow said Macey’s testimony provided the empirical evidence.

The ordinance takes effect Oct. 6, 30 days after approval of the

second reading.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman, who owns property on a “paper street” --

not yet built -- recused herself.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Are steep roads in Laguna a threat to public safety? Write us at

P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA, 92652, e-mail us at

[email protected] f7or fax us at 494-8979. Please give

your name and tell us your home address and phone number for

verification purposes only.