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Council ratifies strategic priorities; directs facilities master plan to assess long‑term pool feasibility
Summary
Council ratified strategic priorities including wildfire mitigation, economic development and downtown actions; it directed staff to seek a lease/joint‑use arrangement with the school district for a 45‑meter pool and asked the facilities master plan to include a long‑term feasibility block for a pool at two city sites.
Laguna Beach city council ratified a set of strategic priorities and asked staff to pursue near‑term actions while preserving the ability to study long‑term facility options, including a potential pool.
City Manager David Kiff told the council the priorities reflect earlier staff work and the council’s strategic planning session. The package bundles wildfire mitigation, sustainability, economic development initiatives, downtown actions and facilities planning. Council members emphasized safety and downtown economic recovery when discussing resource allocation.
On aquatic facilities, the council directed staff to pursue a rental or lease arrangement with the Laguna Beach Unified School District to maintain core programs — youth swim lessons, lap swimming and adult water exercise — in a renovated and expanded high‑school pool that the council and staff described as a 45‑meter facility. Councilors also agreed the city would not pursue a separate new community pool study at this time but asked that the facilities master plan include a long‑term feasibility analysis (a “block” or high‑level feasibility check) examining whether a pool could be accommodated at LBCRC (the former St. Catherine’s site) and at Lang Park. That feasibility block should identify basic constraints such as parking and access; it is not a detailed design study.
Public speakers, including parents, users and community groups, urged the council to preserve swim programs and to maintain joint use with the school district. Sensible Laguna and other community speakers urged continued exploration of pool options even as capital scarcity limits immediate construction.
Council members also discussed targeted “early action” projects from the Downtown Action Plan — including Forest Alley and sections of Lower Ocean and Coast Highway — and asked staff to focus on a limited set of maintenance and public‑realm improvements rather than an immediate, full downtown rewrite. Council members asked for interim steps (stripping, parking inventories, code adjustments) to accelerate economic recovery and support existing businesses.
On the subject of paid parking in South Laguna, staff said initial coordination with the Coastal Commission has begun and that a formal Coastal Development Permit (CDP) process likely requires a map of proposed spaces and additional study; staff estimated that an approval process would likely extend beyond the immediate summer season and could take a year.
The council voted to ratify the strategic‑priority directions and approved staff’s recommended next steps. Members asked staff to return with more detailed funding and CIP implications at the upcoming CIP and budget updates.
