Affordable condos emerge for local artists

A project to build affordable artist live/work space is underway in Laguna Canyon and if all goes according to plan, they’ll be ready for artists in 2009. The units would be the first built under a city program to encourage lower-priced housing to accommodate working artists.

The Sheds, as the four planned live/work condos are dubbed, are a project of local developers Bill Daniel and David Dornan. The pair specializes in building affordable housing.

“It’s good for any community to have housing that is a mix in affordability levels,” Daniel said.

Plans developed by architect Horst Noppenberger were presented to the Laguna Beach Planning Commission for conceptual review Jan. 9. Design details still need to be hammered out.

When they go on the market, the Sheds — two-story units with carports below the housing structures — will be in the lower 25% of housing prices for Laguna Beach.

Daniel said he hopes this will help keep art talent in Laguna.

“I think Laguna Beach is getting to a point where true artists are just getting priced out of the city,” Daniel said.

Arts Commissioner Nancy Beverage said that while she hasn’t heard anything about The Sheds, she thinks supporting artists is important to the city.

“In general, I think that cities that find creative ways to keep their creative people creating locally are very wise,” Beverage said.

Arts Coordinator Sian Poeschl said the city’s Cultural Arts Plan speaks for itself. The document’s fourth priority is to “support and nurture our artist community through the creation of affordable live work facilities.” What the city’s first affordable arts live/work space will look like is still to be determined. As plans for The Sheds stand right now, the Planning Commission would have to approve a variance that would allow the buildings to be built closer to Laguna Canyon Road than city codes allow.

Chris Meddock is one of the project’s designers. He said the commission didn’t look favorably on the variance so they are rethinking the design.

The designs include a bedroom, office, work space, a bathroom and a kitchen. Meddock said the contemporary design would have an artistic feel that would likely appeal to edgy, young artists.

“It has that rawness a lot of the buildings in the canyon have,” Meddock said. “It’s attracting a certain crowd.”

Since The Sheds will be built in an area that’s zoned for light industry, the development will have to get a Conditional Use Permit. Daniel said they can hope the planning and building divisions are lenient with their designs, but if they aren’t, they’re prepared to work with them to see the development take shape. It’s a project he hopes will help keep Laguna’s art scene thriving.

“This is a project that we hope is architecturally significant and it fills a need,” Daniel said.