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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