Below is a summary of what’s on the City Council agenda for this coming Tuesday, September 22, 2026. In this agenda summary, I cover what I think are the more noteworthy items that will appear on the Council agenda. If you want to see the entire agenda, click here. My agenda summary doesn’t include all of the items up for consideration – just ones that I think should have additional community awareness. Please share this with others if you represent a neighborhood association (thanks!).
Our meetings generally start at 5:00 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month at Laguna Beach City Hall, 505 Forest Avenue – the meeting is in the Council Chambers adjacent to Fire Station #1.
We have a study session this week – starting at 3:00 p.m. It’s fairly meaty – the introduction to a multi-month community process to update our General Plan, including critical elements like open space, housing, and more. We are required by law to do some of these updates, and need to get going on them (it was Strategic Priority #4 for the Council for 2026). This is a discussion of the process to do this – a process that will roll out over time, involve a Request for Proposals for consultant assistance (which is shown in draft form with the staff report), include a major advisory committee, and more. Please know that this process is recommended to reaffirm and follow the same mission and guiding principles as guided the last major General Plan effort – these were formulated in 2012, and have stood the test of time. I’ve attached them as a PDF.
The regular session starts at 5:00 p.m.
I’ll highlight these items:
- I write every now and then about tripping and falling (not myself, usually) and sidewalks. We’ve been happy with work done by a contractor to identify trip and fall and ADA issues and to then resolve them, both quickly and efficiently. We’ll continue to do more of this with the same contractor – Precision – with a new contract. If you see areas of sidewalk that need grinding, please bring your phone, take a photo, and use Ask Laguna. Ask Laguna remains the best way to get infrastructure needs addressed quickly within existing workflows. Thanks!
- We’re continuing to move forward with the Fire Station #4 project in South Laguna. An item on the agenda pre-qualifies seven contractors to construct the station. As folks may know, the retaining wall is being constructed now. The Project’s webpage is here.
- We have an item about personnel that deserves some explanation – in some cases, where we have a vacancy and an active recruitment, we can use “retired annuitants” to perform short-term work. We’ve used a handful of them recently, and continue to have need for this role. Currently, our HR / Risk Management Director position is under recruitment, as is Public Works Director and Assistant City Manager / COO. This agenda item ensures that we’re meeting Cal-PERS obligations associated with retired annuitants.
- A labor agreement is proposed for adoption between the City and the Newport Beach Police Employees Association. The NBPEA represents both officers and non-sworn personnel. The agreement is proposed for 10-1-2026 through 9-30-2027.
- Yet again, the DR efficiency ordinance comes back in its same form but in a format acceptable to the California Coastal Commission (aspects of the LCP changes must be adopted via resolution).
- We have two different policy manuals – an Administrative Policy Manual that generally the City Manager oversees (generally for more minor stuff), and the Council Policy Manual whereby the Council sets policies on certain more major things – financial policies, naming things after people, to name a few). This item would add policies to the Council Policy Manual relating to travel, capital assets, required training, and Artificial Intelligence. The AI policy follows generally the policy of the GovAI Coalition, led by the City of San Jose. We do use AI today – to assist in research, to develop parts of documents, and more. The new policy assigns responsibilities, sets rules for everyday use, addresses public safety, and provides transparency / oversight.
- An item considers the award to the PD of a $60K Operation Stonegarden grant, which we’ve participated in since 2022. Operation Stonegarden is set up to work regionally with local, State, and the Federal government on items like human trafficking, narcotics smuggling, and more remote border crossings. We do not check immigration status, communicate statuses to other agencies, or perform an action contrary to the California Values Act (SB 54, 2017).
- There is a return of a previously-heard appeal – 31985/87 Coast Highway – which is on the ocean side of PCH just south of 1,000 Steps. Council will be asked to adopt a resolution ratifying its previous decision to adopt more restrictive conditions than DRB approved.
That’s what’s on the consent calendar. The regular business calendar is pretty involved, too.
- You’ll want to hear about SCE’s plans for Targeted Undergrounding (“TUG”) projects across town. It’s a remarkable investment in undergrounding utility poles – funded by SCE ratepayers across the region – which significantly benefits us in Laguna Beach. Read more about TUG here. Please watch the presentation.
- The next item discusses the use of the Irvine Bowl for later this fall (October 23-25), with some modifications from last year’s testing period. If approved, the concerts will occur with changes to speaker direction and additional sound monitoring. Please read the staff report for detailed information.
- The third item relates to parking requirements and the outdoor dining program that’s in place today – several places have outdoor dining that involves parking spaces, both public and private. Council has asked us to come back with ideas and approaches as a December 31, 2026 deadline for some of the uses nears. This item is a temperature check – to see if we’re on the right path with what the Council and community wants to see. Again, a good staff report to read if you’re interested in this issue.
Lastly, there is one DRB call-up – the residential project at 31552 Eagle Rock Way in South Laguna.
A couple of community notes:
- I want to apologize en masse for my lack of response to individual emails of late. I usually have time to get to them, and to respond thoughtfully. But not recently. I feel like I’ve missed a lot of them – but I’ve had to focus on stuff like the coastal erosion issues, staff changes, and the hospital (to name a few). I don’t know how or if I’ll ever catch up – heck, I’m here on a Saturday.
- Speaking of stuff that takes time, the Promenade. This week saw the removal of the fencing and barricades at the Glenneyre / Forest intersection, the placement of the Bartel Art Cubes, the nautilus bench, and bike racks. Attention next goes to finding a better “binder” for some of the DG, finishing brick work on the interior (which will replace a lot of the unbound, dusty DG), activating wi-fi and the speaker system, and the completion of the Coast Highway / Promenade side. It’s the last major part to be constructed and will look more like the Glenneyre side) with removal of stuff like the concrete blocks.
- Folks have asked me about updates regarding the hospital. I think that Alex and Bob’s guest column in Stu News is probably the best update.
- Because I did one year about this time and get questions about the issue, I updated an “explainer” about City pensions.