Laguna Beach planning commission finds FY 2025–26 capital improvement program consistent with general plan; approves enclosed lifeguard towers and zone-7 slurry

The Laguna Beach Planning Commission on June 4 adopted a resolution finding the city's proposed Fiscal Year 2025—26 Capital Improvement Program consistent with the city's general plan and exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Pierre Sawaya, the city's capital program manager in Public Works, reviewed the CIP and said the city had shifted from a 10-year to a 7-year planning horizon and highlighted projects including the Forest Avenue promenade, EOC relocation to the Community and Recreation Center, Aliso Beach parking-lot rehabilitation (inland and coastal lots), wastewater pipeline replacement (North Coast Interceptor Reach 5), and lift station replacements for Victoria 2 and Bluebird. "Our capital improvement program is a long range planning tool here used at the city, to plan projects, infrastructure projects in town," Sawaya said.

Why it matters: The commission's finding is the yearly determination required under state law that CIP projects conform to the general plan's goals and policies; it is the step that forwards the CIP findings to the…