III. VISION FAIR SUMMARY
An Evening with Futurists
A panel discussion entitled ?An Evening with Futurists? kicked off the Vision Fair Weekend. Over 300 community members attended the event at the Laguna Beach City Hall. Mayor Blackburn welcomed community members to the event and expressed excitement about the upcoming planning process. Fred Droz, chairperson of the Vision Planning Committee, followed with an overview of the planning process and the schedule of the weekend?s events.
The evening's moderator, Daniel Iacofano from the consulting firm Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc. (MIG), introduced the purpose of the panel discussion and stressed the importance of examining the future of Laguna Beach from a global, regional and local perspective. The three guest speakers, George Kenney, Frank Hotchkiss and Amy Margerum, were selected to address each of these perspectives beginning with the global and concluding with the local perspective.
George Kenney, managing partner of Shepherd Fund with over twenty-five years of international business leadership experience in technology-driven environments, spoke first about the impact of technology on our lives and our community. He discussed three specific technologies that he considers important to factors when planning the future of Laguna Beach: 1) computer science; 2) device physics; 3) genetics/biotech. He provided examples of each of these technologies and different ways they might impact local residents.
Frank Hotchkiss, former director of planning for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and founder of Urban Possibilities, followed Mr. Kenney. Mr. Hotchkiss provided a regional perspective that included an overview of historical and projected growth patterns in Orange County and the surrounding region. He also discussed the importance of preserving community aspects that contribute to sense of place, specifically citing the long-lasting impact of open space protection in Laguna Beach.
Amy Margerum, the former City Manager of Aspen and now the Director of Finance and Administration for the Aspen Institute, concluded by discussing her planning experience with the City of Aspen. Her presentation focused on three areas: 1) the top 10 things Aspen did well; 2) the top 10 things Aspen could have done better; 3) key elements of the planning process and questions to consider. Ms. Margerum?s presentation particularly captured the interest of local residents since the similarities between Aspen?s planning issues and community character appear very similar to Laguna Beach. Below is a summary of the key points from the presentation.
Top 10 things Aspen did well
- Focus on the entrance to Aspen
- Develop and enforce local serving zoning
- Develop a strict sign code
- Conduct joint work with the County
- Preserve historic buildings
- Balance community and resort needs
- Preserve open space
- Secure affordable housing
- Initiate a growth management program
- Focus on culture
Top 10 Things Aspen could have done better
- Manage growth
- Develop affordable housing
- Create a better working relationship with County
- Preserve historic buildings
- Develop a better transportation system
- Develop local serving zoning
- Control the ?mansionization? of homes
- Protect sacred spaces
- Create design guidelines
- Involve youth in the planning process
Process Insights and Key Questions to Consider
- Informed, educated citizens can make difference
- The process is extremely important
- Build the plan around areas of consensus, not areas of contention
- Don?t take too long to create the plan
When considering plans, ask the following 4 questions:
- Does it make your community a better place to live?
- Doe it preserve the uniqueness of town?
- Does it preserve the small town character?
- Does it perpetuate original theme of town?
The panelist remarks were followed by a question and answer period. Mr. Iacofano closed the evening with a reminder to all community members in the audience and to those watching via cable television to come to the Vision Fair at the Laguna Beach High School.
Vision Fair
The Vision Weekend continued on Saturday May 12th with an outdoor fair at the Laguna Beach High School. Held from 8:30am to 4pm, the Vision Fair attracted 1,000 community members to the event. The fair consisted of seven interactive vision booths, over 90 community booths and a facilitated vision workshop that was repeated twice during the day.
The Vision Booths invited community members to share information and ideas about such things as where they live, work and play; Laguna Beach?s assets and challenges; defining moments in Laguna Beach?s history and tomorrow?s headlines. The community booths highlighted the work of local organizations and agencies as well as their visions for the future. The Vision Workshops engaged community members in a dialogue regarding their ideal visions of the future of Laguna Beach, while also highlighting specific challenges that need to be addressed. Participants were encouraged to think broadly and without limitation when considering their visions. In addition, some workshop participants worked in small groups to identify the City?s assets, issues and opportunities.
