POLITICAL NOTEBOOK:Village Laguna endorses Iseman, Rollinger for seats

Village Laguna — a group dedicated to the preservation of the city’s “village” character — endorsed Verna Rollinger and Toni Iseman Monday for City Council on the first and only vote. Neither endorsement came as a surprise. Both candidates are long-time Village Laguna members.

The voting membership also was not surprised by the show of support for Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider, although the votes fell short of endorsement, Village Laguna President Anne Caen said.

“Members felt good about a lot of the things she said,” Caen said. “We have gotten to know her better in the last four years and we appreciate what she has done.”

The membership voted after hearing the four candidates speak, in order of their ballot position: Kelly Boyd, Toni Iseman, Rollinger and Pearson-Schneider. No time limits were set for the presentations and there was no question-and-answer period.

Many of the candidates’ remarks fleshed out topics touched on at the Sept. 11 forum at the Veterans Memorial Building which focused on the needs of seniors in Laguna.

Boyd confined his remarks Monday to perceived problems with residential development in Laguna.

“I know this is a concern of Village Laguna, and I am not saying we should have 7,000 or 8,000 square-foot homes, but I don’t think we should have cookie cutters,” Boyd said. “We have to consider private property rights.”

Boyd does not favor setting an absolute limit on home sizes, as has been proposed by some critics of “mansionization.”

Iseman sees the Design Review Board as the key to preserving Laguna. She said the right answer is “Yes,” when applicants are asked if they would reject a project even if no one objects.

She also urged residents to shop in Laguna and urged the business community to provide resident-serving merchandise, as well as parking for the vehicles not captured at the Act V lot.

“I embrace people who come to visit,” Iseman said. “I don’t embrace their cars. It warms my heart to see people hanging out of the shuttle.”

Iseman also is interested in “sleuth” parking — spaces owned or leased by businesses that are empty at night. She has asked the city attorney to research the possibilities of indemnifying the owners.

Rollinger said the city has the tools to balance home-size limits without precluding development, but the tools are not being used.

“We need some new rules,” she said. “I don’t know which is the best one.”

She supports a square-footage limit, but leans toward one based on neighborhood compatibility, rather than an absolute maximum, regardless of lot size.

Rollinger also pledged to reverse what she called the erosion of customer service at City Hall.

Pearson-Schneider said the “mansionization” ordinance needs more specific criteria, but at least the city now provides potential buyers with a disclosure warning them that, if they want to add on to or remodel their homes, they may not get the entitlements they think are due.

She lauded Village Laguna for its efforts that have made the city so highly regarded throughout Orange County as a hometown or a place to visit.

“One of the reasons they like it is because we have no high-rise hotels,” she said. “They like it that we have a downtown. And they like it that our houses don’t all look alike.”

Village Laguna was founded in 1971 by residents who conducted a successful fight to restrict building heights, a restriction still in effect.

Pearson-Schnieder said she looks forward to serving another four years on the council, despite some of the experiences in her first term, including a devastating landslide.

“This job is what you make it,” she said. “You can pick up the [meeting] agenda, vote and go home. That is not what I chose. It is not what Toni chose. We live this job.”

The bond formed between Iseman and Pearson- Schneider — when they forged the “Great Compromise” on the Village Entrance/ maintenance yard project — is one Pearson Schneider said was unexpected but rewarding as a person and as council member.

Together they are working on a plan for peripheral parking at the north and south ends of town and will tackle Aliso Creek upstream communities to further a $45 million restoration proposal, funded by the federal government and other sources.

Pearson-Schneider also pledged to get the Village Entrance project underway if re-elected, a project to which Iseman is committed.

A bond will be required to fund the project, Pearson-Schneider said, a proposal first voiced several years ago by Iseman at a Laguna Canyon Conservancy dinner.

“It will take four votes,” Pearson Schneider said. “You better count who will vote for it. Cheryl Kinsman won’t.

“I want to continue to serve with Toni for four more years and work with whoever is on the council to keep it positive.”

Iseman and Rollinger both reminisced about their early experiences with Village Laguna.

“I think the first Village Laguna meeting I attended was in 1980,” said Iseman, then already a board member of Laguna Greenbelt Inc. “Norm Grossman was president. I know Becky Jones was there because I coveted her hair.

“One discussion was what we should do about Laguna Canyon.”

Those discussions led to the successful purchase of Laguna Laurel and the creation of the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.

Rollinger said her first contact with Village Laguna was a phone call from Arnold Hano about two years after she moved to Laguna from the suburbs of Los Angeles where she spent her first 25 years.

“Arnold said he was calling for the [Village Laguna] nominating committee and asked if I was willing to be nominated for president,” Rollinger recalled. “I said, Arnold, I have never even been to a Village Laguna meeting. So he asked if I would be willing to be nominated for secretary and I said I would be honored.”

Rollinger, who served as City Clerk for almost three decades, said she had no intention of running for City Council when she retired. But she got another one of those telephone calls, with an offer of support she couldn’t refuse.

On the school board election front, Village Laguna endorsed incumbent Betsy Jenkins and SchoolPower powerhouse Theresa O’Hare at the meeting.

VOTER GUIDES

Laguna Beach resident Gene Felder recently raised questions about the ethics of candidates buying space in voter guides.

Three of the four City Council candidates have invested or are considering investing in the guides.

“This is just targeted advertising,” said Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider, who declared space purchases in her campaign expenditure report, filed July 27.

Verna Rollinger said Saturday that she has signed up for the non-partisan Early Voter Guide.

“I wish we didn’t have them,” Rollinger said. “The public thinks they are endorsements, but they are not. They are ads.”

Kelly Boyd said he was considering five of the guides, but has not made a decision.

Toni Iseman is the hold-out.

“These are a problem even for a political junkie like me,” Iseman said. “I have to search out who pays money to get on these lists. You look at the asterisks to find out who did not pay. It used to be you looked at the asterisks for who did pay. It’s just another way to confuse our electoral process.”

COUNCIL CANDIDATES’ FORUMS

Sept. 28: Laguna North Forum, 7 p.m., Wells Fargo Bank, third floor community room, 260 Ocean Ave. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call (949) 494-2950 or (949) 9538.

Oct. 5: South Laguna Civic Association Forum, 7 p.m., Fred Lang Park, 21547 Wesley Drive. The format consists of questions framed by the SLCA Board and brief answers from the four candidates for City Council seats. Refreshments will be served afterward at which time attendees will be able to talk informally with the candidates.

Oct. 7: Arts Alliance Forum, 10 a.m., Laguna Playhouse

Oct. 10: League of Women Voters, Laguna Beach Unit/Laguna Beach Seniors Inc./Laguna Beach Woman’s Club/American Association of University Women, Laguna Beach Branch, Forum, 7 p.m., City Council Chambers, 505 Forest Ave. To be broadcast on Channel 30. Questions from the public may be submitted to [email protected] by Oct. 4 for consideration by the sponsoring groups. The questions will not be given to the candidates in advance.

AAUW Co-President Peggie Thomas said the questions have been solicited only to avoid duplications. Questions also will be taken from the floor.

Oct. 16: Top of the World and Temple Hills neighborhood associations, 7:30 p.m., City Council Chambers, 505 Forest Ave.