Council upholds design review for new South Laguna Fire Station, adds conditions on materials, landscape and daylighting

Laguna Beach’s City Council on June 10 upheld the Planning Commission’s conditional approval of design review for the new Fire Station No. 4 at 31796 Coast Highway, while adding specific direction about final materials, landscaping and interior daylighting.

City Engineer Tom Perez described the project as an 8,367-square-foot replacement fire station sited on a parcel with access from Fifth Avenue for staff and apparatus. Perez said the design accommodates three full-time firefighters, two ambulance operators and future staffing growth, and that the apparatus bays would exit onto Coast Highway. The Planning Commission conditionally approved the design on May 21 with three principal conditions: reduce the building’s maximum height by at least one foot, shift portions of the building north to align with a proposed retaining wall and return to the commission with a final color-and-materials board and revised…