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Residents urge caution on parking loss, tree-well safety and outreach for Laguna Beach streetscape plan
Summary
During public comment at the study session, residents and local committee chairs urged the council to limit additional parking loss, improve tree-well safety, test designs with the fire department and broaden outreach to downtown businesses before adopting more aggressive streetscape options.
Multiple members of the public spoke during the two-minute public-comment slots at the Laguna Beach City Council study session, raising a consistent set of concerns about the streetscape vision presented by SWA Group.
Steve Chatham, chair of the Environmental Sustainability Committee, urged the city to consider bicycle parking in newly opened curb-extension areas and to engage local artists to design integrated bicycle racks. “There is almost a complete lack of places for people to park their bikes ... these bulb outs could present a great opportunity for some additional bicycle parking and locking,” he said.
Other commenters raised safety and maintenance issues with existing tree wells, arguing for softer, permeable or tray-based solutions to reduce trip hazards. Bob Borthwick, a landscape architect, asked consultants to provide more tree-well options and discussed trade-offs between metal grates and decomposed granite.
Several residents objected to removing additional parking beyond what AB 413 requires. Some public speakers said an aggressive program looked like it could remove “over 30” spaces in total; staff did not confirm that total in the presentation and said parking impacts would be quantified as part of CIP programming. Anne Chrisman said, “do not take any more parking,” and warned that parklets often sit unused and can be repurposed as storage.
Robin Hall, a longtime resident, criticized earlier outreach, saying businesses did not receive adequate notice of previous workshops; staff responded that the city has used community newsletters, Nixle alerts and several town halls in recent months but acknowledged that targeted business outreach may need bolstering.
Council members heard the concerns and requested that staff include operational checks—such as fire-department turning-radius tests—clarify outreach and notification plans, and return with prioritized options and clearer parking-impact numbers before proceeding.
