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Laguna Beach plans Ocean Avenue sidewalk and ADA upgrades, Tom Perez says
Summary
Tom Perez said the first phase of a downtown improvement project will focus on Ocean Avenue from Forest Avenue to Coast Highway, aiming to replace damaged sidewalks, remove trip hazards, add ADA-compliant ramps and introduce limited curb bulb-outs and landscaping after a planning commission concept review.
Tom Perez said the city’s first-phase downtown improvement project will focus on Ocean Avenue from Forest Avenue to Coast Highway and will “focus mainly on improvements to the walkways, walking paths,” including replacing sidewalks and addressing ADA compliance. The project is entering a planning-commission concept review, Perez said, and community input will guide later design review and coastal permitting.
The podcast moderator framed the work as a maintenance-driven capital improvement rather than a tourism-oriented redesign, saying, “It's a maintenance project. It's something that needs to be done.” Perez confirmed the project’s core goals: consistent sidewalk finishes, elimination of trip hazards, ADA improvements at drive approaches and opportunities to increase landscaping where feasible while minimizing loss of parking.
Perez said the team has identified locations where curb bulb-outs could add greenery and shorten pedestrian crossing distances. The moderator referenced an “assembly bill 4 13 13” and the so-called “daylight law,” which the transcript linked to rules on how close parked cars may be to intersections; Perez said that rule has already reduced some downtown parking and offered opportunities for additional landscaping. The transcript’s bill number was stated as “assembly bill 4 13 13”; that citation was not verified in the podcast.
Addressing concerns raised at a town hall, Perez said residents worried that oversized bulb-outs would make turns difficult for large delivery vehicles and could create cut-through traffic; engineers have reduced bulb-out sizes to balance pedestrian safety and vehicle turning needs. The moderator and Perez said Caltrans’ separate work on Coast Highway focused on ADA ramps and driveways but did not correct uplifted sidewalks or some trip hazards, which the city project aims to address.
No formal motions or votes were taken during the podcast. Perez said the next procedural step is a planning commission concept review (the first public hearing), after which designers will revise plans and the project will proceed to design review and coastal permitting before construction is scheduled.
