It’s been a busy Friday morning for us here at City Hall, at Marine Safety, and at Public Works.  Here’s what you should know in a nutshell:

• Many noted (us included, of course) the Broadway / Coast Highway flooding.  This is occurring because of a combination of things – the storm swell, the tide level, and the possibility of the presence of a Kelvin Wave (which is not so much a wave, but a higher height to expected tides).  The tide level and waves push into the Laguna / Broadway channel and flood this low-lying area.  It is not wastewater, but it is pretty icky.  While we’ve got equipment out there working daily to clear the channel’s drainage, this isn’t an easy battle – folks should plan on that stretch of Coast Highway being impacted at high tides for several more days.  Use your secret detours, Laguna.

• Aliso Beach is taking some big hits.  While we added rip-rap following Hurricane Marie’s remnants, this one is hitting Aliso hard.  The waves picked up and moved cement trash cans and cement benches well into the parking area.  We’ve closed the coastal parking lot and are asking that folks – even pedestrians – stay away from there at least for the next few days, as the waves are projected to get larger.  It is not safe to be close to the water should a large wave sneak up on you.  As of about 10:30-ish this morning, the Aliso Creek berm naturally breached, as there was a lot of water backed up into the creek (post breach shown below).

• We’re watching the next few days.  We expect them to not be too rainy (but a bit windy) – our main attention will be on the shoreline.  If you see something, say something – use Ask Laguna for any situation you’re concerned about (unless it’s a life-safety event – then of course call 911).  Surfline projects that this event will be with us for 14-16 days, with today being NOT the extreme (!).

All in all, this is pretty significant.  Most Laguna long-timers say they haven’t seen it like this before.  Or at least in recent memory.  Please remind folks to be extra careful by the water, stay off rocks, stay aware of your surroundings, don’t go in unless you’re an expert swimmer or surfer, listen to lifeguards, call in problems when you see them – phew, that’s a lot.
It still will be a great fall weekend, though (band still playing tonight 5-7 at the Promenade, lots of other events, too) – please enjoy it and be careful out there.

Courtesy of Dave Kiff – Laguna Beach City Manager – Sat. Oct. 3, 2026

I’m writing this in between Council meetings because there seems to be confusion suddenly about “Residential Hillside/Protection” (RHP) properties.

Your “TL/DR” Version:

• No, the City didn’t newly require open space easements over residential hillside properties.
• No, the City doesn’t direct private property owners to install public trails.
• No, the City didn’t newly classify properties with 30% slopes as environmentally sensitive areas.
• Yes, we did add a 90-day response period for applications that are deemed incomplete – in large part because this is a recommended State standard and because sometimes folks just don’t get back to us at all.  Respond with something, please

In Greater Detail:

First, this email is primarily about properties zoned RHP.   If you don’t know how your property is zoned, you can always look it up here.  Use the map to find your property, then click on the parcel.  A window will pop up with parcel information.  It usually has two sections – on one of the two sections, you’ll find something that says “Zone District: R1” or “Zone District: R2” or “Zone District: RHP” or similar.

Let’s get back to the DR Efficiency Ordinance and the RHP Zone.  The RHP zone has a lot of acreage but is small in terms of the number of lots citywide – this zoning applies generally to large parcels that contain steep hillsides or canyons.  Typically these are parcels where at most one can have a single-family home, a yard, and related hardscape – and a lot of canyon or hillside.

Our new DR Efficiency Ordinance, which has been in the works since October 2024 (and has had at least 10 workshops), generally does these three things:

• It made changes to which projects require Design Review. Many project types now require a lower level of review. Certain new single-family homes may qualify for an exemption if they are single-story, do not exceed 15 feet in height, and meet other requirements.
• It reduced the number of Design Review criteria. The ordinance reduces the criteria used to evaluate projects from 16 to 11.
• It put in place a hearing waiver option for Administrative Design Review. An application may be approved without a hearing if no hearing is requested through the waiver process.

You can view the full ordinance here (it’s item #20).

Here’s the kicker: the Ordinance did something that threw folks for a loop – it mirrored things that are in other parts of the Code and our General Plan.

In other words, aspects of the Ordinance simply reiterated current law.  Why would we do this?  Well, too many innocent applicants weren’t aware of certain existing zoning restrictions because they only looked at the Zoning Code, not the General Plan.  And they had early hopes/expectations for their projects solely based on the Zoning Code, not realizing that General Plan requirements apply, too.

Given how complex our codes and General Plan are, you need to look at both.  So the DR Efficiency Ordinance picked up the SAME LANGUAGE that’s in our General Plan – it didn’t revise, undo, or create new limitations for the RHP Zone.

So, as a Q&A:

1 – Did the City create a new requirement for residential hillside properties to dedicate land as permanent open space?  No. That was there under current law.  The ordinance links an existing General Plan requirement to the Zoning Code to make it easier for applicants in the RHP zone to find and understand.  For many years, Policy 14-J of the City’s Open Space/Conservation Element (see page 66) has required an offer of a permanent open space easement as a condition of approval for new development in certain hillside areas. The Open Space/Conservation Element is part of the City’s General Plan, which guides land-use decisions.  The City already applies this policy to new development in the Residential Hillside/Protection (RHP) zone, typically when reviewing a proposal for a new single-family home. Because development approvals must be consistent with the General Plan, the City includes the required offer of an easement as a condition of approval.

2 – What land is covered by the easement?   The easement generally covers portions of the RHP property that will remain in their natural state. It does not include areas used for your home, garage, hardscape, or other improvements, such as a landscaped backyard.  Many RHP properties are among the City’s larger developable lots. Preserving their undeveloped areas helps protect hillside open space over the long term (which is why the requirement is in the General Plan).

3 – Does the City take ownership of the land within the easement or require public trails?  No!  The property remains privately owned. An open space easement limits how the covered area may be used to preserve it as open space.  The City does not require owners to build public trails or other improvements within these easement areas, because we don’t own the property – the resident does. If someone wanted to do those improvements on their own land (hmmm – and I can’t see why they would), they’d have to initiate it herself or himself.

4 – Does the ordinance newly classify slopes greater than 30 percent as environmentally sensitive areas?  No. The Zoning Code already grouped slopes greater than 30 percent with environmentally sensitive areas when determining whether a project requires Design Review. The ordinance did not add or change that requirement.  The ordinance provides a way for a project to qualify for an exemption from this Design Review requirement if a licensed professional certifies that the proposed development will not affect an environmentally sensitive area, including a slope greater than 30 percent.

5 – Why do applicants now have 90 days to resubmit materials after the Planning Division finds an application incomplete?  Remember, this affects the first step that an applicant takes – she or he files a project application with the City, and we check all of the boxes to make sure that the submittal itself – before we even crack it open for analysis – is “complete” (i.e. all there), with the dozens of things that our complex code requires.  The 90-day requirement – which starts AFTER we’ve let an applicant know that something(s) is/are missing – helps keep applicants and the City on time with project approvals.

If someone wants to avoid coming up against the 90-day deadline, we’re happy to help you file the most complete application as you can BEFORE the clock starts and of course to work with you as you’re completing your submittal – just ask!  We’re simply trying to avoid the scenario where we get crickets back when we deem an application incomplete (crickets = bad).  The requirement also aligns with California Department of Justice guidance on 90-day resubmittal periods for housing development applications.

Thanks for reading and for helping us rebut confusion.  If you have any questions about this at all, please ask me, Matt Schnieder, or Anthony Viera.

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 2^nd and 4^th 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.

Courtesy of the Laguna Beach City Manager’s Office
Hi Readers!

The City Attorney and I asked to set a special City Council meeting for Monday, September 14^th at 3:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers.  That agenda should go out shortly.  There is one item.

The Council will be asked to ratify the decision to proclaim a local emergency for the Hurricane Marie / Summer 2026 coastal erosion / anticipating El Nino issues.  State law and our Muni Code say that the Council has to consider and ratify it within 7 days of the proclamation in order for it to stay in effect.

The proclamation is attached.
State of Local Emergency – 9-10-2026 Coastal Erosion El Nino Hurricane Marie Impacts

If you have any questions, please ask.

It’s getting to the latter part of August, and time for another Promenade update.  You’ll see these things happening this week and next:

• A bunch of brick arrived Monday and is being installed alongside the also-arrived storm drain grates.  Some of this work will occur at night, starting near Tuvalu Home and headed towards PCH.  This will result in a more finished look, as well as the removal of the plywood and some of the loose decomposed granite (DG) along the sides.  Here’s a photo from Tuesday morning:
• The Glenneyre / Forest intersection is taking shape, with some new trees planted Monday and the irrigation going in.  Soon, concrete will be laid down that will be the base of the Crazy Quilt Brick pattern all along the intersection.
• Lantern-style lighting went up in the trees on the edges – the Glenneyre lantern lights are lit at night, but the PCH side is waiting for final power.  Which is pending.
• A writer asked me previously whether the big (ugly?) concrete blocks at the PCH/Promenade side will stay there – no, they won’t.  New bollards are in place behind them, and those provide the right level of safety without the concrete blocks.  The cool Bartel Cubes that once covered the concrete blocks were removed for safe-keeping and will be returned on the Promenade soon.
• Speakers and the long-awaited permanent, fixed-in-place umbrellas should be installed within this next 2 week period.

A few things may trail past Labor Day – the final improvements to the crosswalks at Glenneyre and Forest, and the PCH / Promenade intersection improvements.  These are trailing in part because of SCE’s and Caltrans’ timing.  Once the SCE improvements are in, the area will have full power, including to the fountain.  Also, some tree grates that will allow permeable surfaces right up to the bases of some of the Eucalyptus, and some surface-level utility box lids that also will be covered with brick, are delayed in the supply chain (also slated for September delivery).  These should not be too intrusive to install.

Thanks as always for folks’ patience as we start to close this project out.

As you hopefully sit outside in a lounge chair with your tablet and doomscroll / check in on things, this is very much worth your time:

Almost nowhere in California is building enough, according to the state.

You can do this too, but when I put in “Laguna” I get:

If you don’t already subscribe to Cal Matters, I recommend it.  Their reporting is consistently fair (IMO) and thorough.

It’s time for another Promenade (& Arts) update, this time for the close of July 2026.

Construction progress

A lot more of the brickwork is now complete, allowing us to open another section of the central Promenade closer to Glenneyre. We’ve also placed all of the tables and chairs throughout the site, creating more space for people to sit and enjoy the area.  New permanent benches have been installed along the sides of the Coast Highway half of the project. Bricklayers are continuing night work to finish the areas adjacent to the storefronts.

As a reminder, there are two types of decomposed granite, or “DG,” within the interior of the Promenade. Type 1 includes a binder product that helps create a firmer surface. The DG is an important part of the project’s water-quality improvements because it allows more water to percolate through the ground.  There is still a significant amount of unbound DG — call it Type 2 — that will be removed in the coming days as storm-drain grates are installed, the custom umbrellas are placed and utility covers are bricked over. As that work continues, conditions will become less dusty, particularly for storefronts currently dealing with DG being tracked inside.

Tree care and monitoring

The City continues to closely monitor the health of the new and existing trees throughout the Promenade. Most are adapting very well, and when a tree shows signs that it needs additional support, the City works with its arborists to provide the appropriate care.  A newer eucalyptus (Spathulata) near Coast Highway is currently being monitored because it is showing both healthy new growth and some leaf dieback. The ficus near the ice cream shop will also soon begin a fungus-treatment plan under the guidance of an arborist.

What’s next?

The most active area of construction has shifted to the Glenneyre and Forest Avenue intersection. This is where we’ll see up to four more eucalyptus trees and the signature sycamore, along with the iconic “crazy brick” pattern covering a large area adjacent to the intersection.  You’ll also see trenching for IT lines, as well as electrical lines and a new transformer near the Library.

About the “Kelp Forest” water feature

Before I close, I want to address some misinformation surrounding the water feature’s custom “Kelp Forest” installation.  Under the project approval, the Arts Commission reviewed the proposed water feature as a potential location for public art.  In September 2025, the Commission considered the concept and declined to recommend incorporating public art into the fountain, citing available space, cost and functionality.  Following that determination, staff continued working with SWA, the project designer, on the fountain’s custom plinth and top. The specific design now installed was developed during that later phase of the project.

I believe we could have communicated this process more clearly as it occurred, and we have already discussed internally and externally how to do better.  In the meantime, arts officials are currently at work identifying precise locations for the three permanent art pieces that will soon return to the Promenade (see below), and the Arts Commission is preparing a call for artists for a robust program of temporary public art on the Promenade.

Laguna’s Commitment to the Arts

This community takes tremendous pride in its reputation as a home for world-class arts and culture. Three important examples of that commitment include:

1. Open competitions.  Any artist, from anywhere, can compete for our public art opportunities. Laguna Beach artists continue to hold their own alongside artists from across the country and around the world, and inclusion in the City’s broader arts collection is highly prestigious.

1. Meaningful arts funding.  Approximately $2.25 million each year from the Tourism Marketing District supports arts programs and arts facilities. That investment is further supported by a mandatory art-in-lieu fee, or specific art placement onsite for certain development projects (like Fire Station #4).

1. Artist housing and workspaces.  Through its partnership with the Community Land Trust, the City has preserved 75 (and counting) artist studios and housing units. These provide safe, affordable spaces that will remain protected from being sold off.

Here’s a summary of what’s on the City Council agenda for this coming Tuesday, July 21, 2026.  In this agenda summary, I cover what I think are the more noteworthy items that will appear on the Council agendas.  If you want to see the entire agenda, click here.   A couple of folks have noted that the new agenda portal is confusing to use – it gets easier if you remember that the three dots are your friends.

If you use the dots to navigate, you can choose PDF downloads or HTML, and go from there. 

 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 2^nd and 4^th Tuesdays of the month (except for July and August) at Laguna Beach City Hall, 505 Forest Avenue – the meeting is in the Council Chambers adjacent to Fire Station #1.  Our next meeting is on another first Tuesday – it’s August 4^th, not August 11^th. 

 A couple of Community Notes:

• We have an additional special Council meeting a week from this one (July 28 – starting at 3:00 p.m.), which will involve three DRB appeals.  That agenda and those staff reports are available, too. Council has started doing “appeals days” about once a quarter, so as to not land the appeals late in the evening on regular Council nights.  We do so with the consent of the appellants and applicants.  Remember too that you can watch them on Zoom now.
• We did a couple of Promenade updates on social media over the past few days – try to find those and hopefully it addresses some questions we’ve gotten about the remaining pacing of the job.  In a nutshell, a few items are delayed because of delivery issues, and the remaining brickwork is a long slog given how sensitive the work is, and how some of it needs to be done at night.  Oh, and I now have a visceral dislike of spilled ice cream.
• We had a great first meeting of the Hospital Task Force this week.  These meetings are open to the public, with the next one being Thursday, August 20, 2026 at the Susi Q/Community Center (starting at 4:30 p.m.).  Please consider joining us next time.

 We have a study session this week – starting at 3:00 p.m.  This time, it’s a Joint Meeting of the City Council and the Heritage Committee.  The major part of the discussion will be the report of a consultant, ASM Affiliates, who was tasked with making a series of recommendations about historic property issues.  They looked at how we use the Mills Act (which allows for property tax reductions provided that the savings are invested in preserving the historic nature of the home), as well as how the City government approaches historic properties. 

 The regular session starts at 5:00 p.m.

I’ll highlight these items:

• We respond formally to two Orange County Grand Jury reports that concluded the GJ’s 2025-26 calendar.  It’s typical that the Grand Jury will offer its thoughts on key civic or policy matters, and then ask every city with some related interest in the matter to comment back as to whether we agree or disagree with the findings and recommendations.  This term, the GJ looked at State Housing Laws and Wildfire Preparation (among other things) – and asked us to respond with our comments.  The reports as well as our responses are included in the agenda item.  Ann C noted that our housing response had an HTML transfer problem and looks goofy, so as I write this summary, assume it will be a lot more readable by Monday morning.  
• Boring but important: Much of the downtown will get new paving and sidewalk repair starting after summer.  This is not (repeat, not) the Ocean Avenue – Beach Street improvement plan that has engendered a lot of discussion.  This one is basic maintenance. 
• Lifeguard Towers.  I’ve seen some discussion via email and online about the City’s long-term plan to replace many of the portable red towers with caisson-based poly lifeguard towers that are more permanent and more protected from the elements.  Eventually, the plan is to have 39 of these – but not all at once.  It should happen over multiple fiscal years.  Planning Commission this week had “concept review” of how these might be placed and where – concept review is very early in the process, where we ask the Commission and community for their input.  The item on the Council agenda for Tuesday is only to hire the engineering firm to start work on the specific placements, which involves geology, wave and tidal impacts, and community use needs (like the Vic Beach volleyball court).  There is a big reason to do this:  skin cancer.  Included in that is the consequence to the City for multiple skin cancer claims where better infrastructure was available.  Our Marine Safety team is critically important to all of us – to me, providing them with the right protective equipment is essential.   
• Congrats to the Police Department for securing about $475,000 in competitive grant funding associated with the State’s cannabis taxation fund. No, we don’t allow the sale of commercial cannabis in town, but we are eligible to apply for grants like this, which go towards DUI checkpoints, education, prevention, and training.      
• Dig in with me on this next one, please.  It’s a discussion item about the Downtown Specific Plan, Phase II.   This involves a Programmatic EIR that envisions the environmental impact of 2^nd or 3^rd story residential in the Downtown Specific Plan area, which includes downtown plus well into the Canyon to the Boys and Girls Club.  Many in the community looked at the amount of units being studied in the EIR and envisioned a dramatic change to the downtown – I get that, but that was no one’s intent (to be a place with channelized stucco along the lines of parts of Dana Point).  Our “6^th Cycle” Housing Element requires us to site a significant amount of units, including in the downtown – and it required us to start studying that to keep a compliant housing element (for you housing readers, check out this piece about Costa Mesa in the OC Register).  Here’s what’s happened since the EIR got started – among other things, State law changed.  It allows some housing without CEQA (which is the law that causes EIRs to be needed).  Staff is recommending that instead of finishing the EIR, we roll the larger discussion of housing in the downtown into a discussion about siting for our next Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) across the community, as a part of updating our Housing Element for its 7^th Cycle (which begins very soon!).  This allows the community to talk about this more, for the Council to provide some additional guiderails, and to consider other housing sites that may not have been identified in the 6^th Cycle Housing Element (kudos to anyone who followed me this far – really).
• We have a follow up presentation about a proposed contract with a new Mobile Parking App vendor, IPS.  This is important in part because parking technology is changing so fast, and vendors like IPS are on the cutting edge of how cities effectively manage their parking assets.  Part of the updated contract includes a more regular strategizing with IPS and the City to improve parking management based on thorough data and analysis.
• The Design Review Efficiency ordinances are back for final review and adoption.  I’ve written about these a bit before, and won’t go into it again unless you yell at me. 
• There is a public hearing that allows us to tell the County of Orange to bill us all for our sewer fees.  Which have not gone up – but fair warning, that’s probably coming when a new Master Plan is complete and a benchmarking study is in and presented to the Council (coming in a handful of weeks). 
• There is public hearing involving a lot line merger to accomplish the planned Pacific Edge renovation, but the recommended action asks for the hearing to be tabled.  A few issues need to be resolved before we’re ready to consider that lot merger (all five parcels are within the Pacific Edge footprint).

 As always, thanks for reading – stay hydrated through our muggy end-of-July, too.  Remember the 7-28 appeals meeting if that’s something you follow – 399 Pearl, 950 Baja, and 332 Locust.

 If you don’t want to be on this email list, please let me know and I’ll remove you (no hard feelings – we all get a lot of emails).

What’s on the Laguna Beach City Council Agenda for Tuesday, June 23, 2026

A happy Juneteenth today – which also means the precipice of summer 2026, and Festival season.

What follows is my Council agenda summary for the City Council meeting set for Tuesday, June 23^rd, 2026.  At the next meeting, July 7^th, 2026 we re-enter the Zoom world!  How much fun will that be?  I know I’m being a tad snarky.  Zoom is a great tool.  I like that it helps expand the reach of your local government to folks who are busy / still at work / at home with family / or struggle to attend in person, especially when we go late into the evening.  The flip side of that, though, is Zoombombing.  I’ll stay optimistic and hope that a Laguna spirit of neighborliness and community prevails and we see a world of Good Zoom, not Bad Zoom.

In the Agenda summary, I cover what I think are the more noteworthy items that will appear on the Council agendas.  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 2^nd and 4^th Tuesdays of the month at Laguna Beach City Hall, 505 Forest Avenue – the meeting is in the Council Chambers adjacent to Fire Station #1.   But this week, we start the meeting’s regular business at 3:00 p.m. – a special (and rare) change so that folks can attend the Sawdust’s 60^th birthday celebration later.

I’m going to focus on the agenda today, but I did just send out a Promenade Update under separate cover.  Please take a look at that, and it may answer your questions as you peer (if I could, I’d insert an eyeballs emoji here) over the fence at this very high profile site and project (I do it, too).   Have I mentioned before how interesting it is for us to coordinate a capital project so smack dab in the middle of where everyone goes? (if I could, I’d insert the barf emoji there).

There is no Study Session, as the regular meeting starts at 3:00 p.m.

I’ll highlight these items:

• We get to meet Oro, the Fire Department’s new service dog.  Who can resist a presentation involving a dog?
• Our longtime colleague and Assistant City Manager, Gavin Curran, is headed towards retirement (and a nice trip to Ireland).  I have appreciated Gavin’s calm steadiness while I’ve been City Manager here – and his wealth of knowledge as to why Laguna does what it does.  I’m going to miss Gavin, but am happy to celebrate his time with us.
• The annual report for the Laguna Beach Tourism and Marketing District is in for a receive and file.  It reports on 2024-25 activities (looking back) and 2026-27 workplans (forward looking).   The TMD already released the 2025-26 report.
• Council is asked to approve the 7-year capital plan for transit, pavement, and signal synchronization that is a part of our Measure M / OCTA requirements.  Of particular note is our relatively high Pavement Condition Index (PCI) – it’s 87.4, which means that our pavement condition is well above the OCTA required 75 and slightly above our goal range of 82-85.  Now this doesn’t mean we don’t have potholes – we do, and I’m sure after I send this out, I’ll hear about twelve of them across town 🙂  But it does mean that we’re keeping up as we should.  Yay, Public Works!
• Kudos to our Fire Admin team, who did some hard work to get more and better bids on our Fuel Mod Zone construction projects – it shows how good procurement with multiple bidders can reduce costs.  The FMZ next up for construction is FMZ 19, which is Diamond – Crestview.  Construction is a costly part of an FMZ effort  – where you remove invasives and clear back much of the vegetation from the untouched environment.  Maintenance is less costly per acre, but is forever.
• About sixteen people will be appointed to the Hospital Task Force, which will help the City prepare and respond to the possible closure of the Mission Hospital, Laguna Beach emergency room and hospital.
• Then there is the final action (we hope) on the FY 2026-27 proposed budget.  I wrote about this quite a bit, and held two town halls about it.  The last one, just this past Tuesday, was attended by about 20 folks who had very good and thoughtful questions.  We talked about position counts, trends, transparency, capital projects, how Laguna does its budgets, and much more. In summary for this year, the proposed budget is balanced and maintains our 20% reserves (plus a 7% disaster contingency reserve).  But it allocates less for capital improvements than in years past – this is in part done to address other one-time needs, as well as because we’re in this period of time where PERS costs are peaking, and we’ll have one large hotel down for construction.  I expect more good questions from Council on this on Tuesday, as well as some thoughtful ideas for increased efficiency from the Council ad hoc committee.  What we don’t tackle on Tuesday, we can work on across the summer and into the fall.  The budget itself is always subject to change, including changing economic conditions.  I really appreciate the hard work of our Finance team on this, led by Michelle Bannigan and Amy Massey (both relatively new to us in Laguna).
• There is a Council ad hoc committee proposed for the Neighborhood Congregational Church project.
• Council will discuss extending the permits for the 3 remaining outdoor dining areas (in front of Oto Sushi, Tango, and the Agean Café), which currently expire June 30, 2026.  This item also suggests that we further study the local market needs – from residents, vendors, and others – as the retail environment continues to change.
• Lastly, there will be a protest hearing on proposed rate increases associated with solid waste collection.  If there is not majority protest, and all rates are approved, it would result in about a $5 per month increase for most single family homes.  Most residential settings with 2-8 units will see a decrease.  Much of this (about $2.38 and $1.35 of the $5 per month) is caused by increased disposal fees at the County of Orange’s landfills and the mandatory CPI pass through to the contractor (respectively)  -we have no say in either.
• The Design Review Efficiency Ordinance is back for its first reading – please review the staff report (page 2) to see changes from the May 12, 2026 meeting.
• There is one DRB appeal (855 La Vista Drive), but it’s recommended for continuance to July 7^th, as one party was unable to attend on June 23^rd.

One more community note:  Another community survey is in the field possibly today and into the weekend.  It asks again about revenue measures, including a restaurant and bar 3% tax on food and beverages at these venues (this would have to be approved by the voters).  As a gentle reminder, not all surveys are alike.  Surveys like this one are intended to determine the effectiveness of arguments – pro and con – and to see if a ballot measure would withstand that scrutiny.  That’s why the questions seem leading – they are designed to mirror arguments in a campaign.  We’re not trying to get the answers we want to hear – that would be valueless.

As always, thanks for reading!  Also, please join us if you can at the actual meeting.   If you don’t want to be on this email list, please let me know and I’ll remove you (no hard feelings – we all get a lot of emails).

There is a lot in motion at the Promenade, with many steps forward and sometimes a few back.  The steps forward include the:

• Delivery and placement of much of the decomposed granite (DG) sections;
• Planting of the 48” box Eucalyptus polyanthemos (Silver Dollar Gum);
• Bollard installation near Coast Highway;
• Fountain / art pedestal has been poured and is plumbed;
• Irrigation mainlines are in and connected to the water system; and
• Speaker/lighting poles have been stood up and the electrical conduits are in place (along with cabling that will support lighting across the middle).

And the brickwork is going in.  But it’s going in slowly.  The design is pretty complex – a herringbone pattern where the tumbled bricks lay vertically on their sides.  The crews struggled a bit for a while with it, and parts of the laydown were skewed.  Argh.  So they had to remove this section and re-do it.

This week, we had to lift out (they were still boxed) some of the smaller Eucalyptus polyanthemos because the arborist was concerned about their survivability and health – we’ll return these and look for other trees of the same species and similar size. We are also considering two 24” box Eucalyptus spathulata, which are known to do better in saline environments.  We’re monitoring closely the Quercus virginiana nearest Tuvalu (it was evaluated by the arborist today), as its leaf drop has been more significant than the other one near the center of the Promenade.  But it’s being watered well and should hold its own.  The two Oaks will be planted in place when a new special soil arrives in the coming days.  Irrigation is operative at the tree wells.

The upcoming week will see more bricklaying, including the rest of the central area which has a cement base now. Evenings/nights will see paving of the areas in front of the stores and restaurants with thinner brick pavers (in the same herringbone pattern).  More DG will come in, and more plants.   Street furniture has begun to arrive and is being stored at the CRC. Additional furniture will continue to arrive over the next 2 weeks.  Speakers and the string lights will be attached to the poles and will be powered up.  We also expect delivery of the “Kelp Forest” sculpture to be placed on the fountain base.

We are still gunning for opening up of much of the site to the public and removing much of the fencing before July 3, but a couple of things might make us leave some areas protected with low snow-fencing.  The western brick area, and the location where Forest meets Glenneyre will be among the last sections to be completed (this site includes the large sycamore).

There is light at the end of the tunnel.  It could still be a train, but we’re all working to have it just be a light.  I so appreciate everyone’s patience, as well as the hard work of the contractor, Sara Bekr the construction manager, Jorge the lead inspector, Katrina our project arborist, and our Public Works team led by Tom Perez.

Hi Folks & a Happy June to You —

 

I know I’m early, surprise surprise, but what follows is my Council agenda summary for the City Council meeting set for Tuesday, June 9^th, 2026. 

 

In the Agenda summary, I cover what I think are the more noteworthy items that will appear on the Council agendas.  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 2^nd and 4^th Tuesdays of the month at Laguna Beach City Hall, 505 Forest Avenue – the meeting is in the Council Chambers adjacent to Fire Station #1. 

 

Before I dive into it, I wanted to update you on Laguna Canyon Road – I had planned to make a presentation and ask for direction on signing a “State of Good Repair” letter that is a step within the relinquishment process at this June 9 meeting.   As some folks know, we had a Town Hall about it, and presented a draft staff report on our agenda page.  That town hall made me think about some key things that folks felt were unanswered – and I acknowledge that my answers left something to be desired.  That made me think more that I really needed to dig in further and effectively answer the questions to the Council’s and residents’ satisfaction.  So I asked Caltrans for more time for the City to tell Caltrans whether we would sign the letter (again, only one step in a long relinquishment process).  They agreed to give more time, though at least the end of 2026.  So over the next several months, I’ll continue to work on this issue with the staff, the public, and Council to secure those answers, not bringing something back until the questions are addressed.  I thank all who participated in these discussions to date, and promise to keep up the dialogue with you all.    

 

Study Session (starting at 3:00 p.m.)  

This week the Council will hold interviews for a number of Commission and Committee appointments.  Then, they’ll get a summary of a recent Community Survey that went out in May, as a follow-up to a similar one in October 2025.  The survey polled about 400 people on city issues, as well as stating positive and negative sides of revenue measures that could be considered for the November 2026 ballot.  I heard from a number of folks who were polled.  Some folks asked me “why do you ask leading questions in there?  Is it because you want a specific answer?”  Actually, no.  Some of the questions were indeed leaning – and others leaned back the other way.  We want to know how folks respond when presented with various arguments.  It would be kind of foolish of us to set up a poll that told us what we wanted to hear, versus how folks actually felt.  Please take the time to read the results – I found them pretty interesting.  At the end of the presentation and discussion, Council will be asked to give us some direction on whether to bring something back to them (in a public meeting) about a revenue measure.  Again, Study Sessions are for discussion – not adoption.      

 

Council’s Regular Session (starts at 5:00 p.m.)

I’ll highlight these items:

• Providence Mission Hospital’s Chief Executive, Seth Teigen, will make a presentation (with Q&A) as to the preliminary vision forMission Hospital, Laguna Beach.  This issue is very important, and well worth a tune-in during the meeting.
• There are proposed  amendments to the Council Policy Manual, which are minor but I never want anyone to think I won’t highlight these – one has to do with protecting employee medical information, and another allows the Council to start regular business meetings – sporadically, not as a regular practice – earlier in the day at 3:00 if circumstances warrant it (like next meeting, when the Sawdust’s 60^th anniversary occurs later that night).  Remember too that soon Zoom meetings begin again – those come back in July.
• We’ll talk a bit about plan options for the Village Green Park playground – our friends in South Laguna will want to take a look.
• Our great Fire and Emergency Management team will update the Council and community on progress with the 2025 Wildfire Mitigation and Fire Safety Plan – lots of important things have been accomplished.
• There is one DRB appeal item planned for hearing  – 31565 Eagle Rock Way (oops, I just noted that my Agenda Summary last time suggested that this would go to JULY 9, not June 9.  31565 Eagle Rock will be heard at this June 9^th meeting – sorry about that).  399 Pearl Street is proposed to be continued to July 28^th.

 

I’m sorry to miss the final Community Pool Party this coming Friday – gonna miss that place (I’ve been swimming there since 1996!). I’m traveling north to my niece’s HS graduation, so folks will have to send me photos of dogs enjoying their one and only pool swim.

 

As always, thanks for reading.  Also, please join us if you can at the actual meeting.   If you don’t want to be on this email list, please let me know and I’ll remove you (no hard feelings – we all get a lot of emails).

 

Dave Kiff City Manager, City of Laguna Beach 505 Forest Avenue Laguna Beach, CA  92651 949-497-0704 | dkiff@lagunabeachcity.net

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