Name of Organization:Various Comment Cards
(received independently of the Community Workshops)
Date of Workshop:
Number of Participants:
Facilitator:

Summary of Assets

The group identified the following community assets during group discussion and on written comment cards.

The Environment

Natural environment

  • Beach access

The People

Education

  • Pool of talented, intelligent people

Communications

  • Two local newspapers

Activist citizenry

  • Willingness to work together
  • Opportunities for involvement

The Community

Arts and Culture

  • Playhouse, museum

Economy

  • A resort destination - provides off-season resources for locals
  • Emphasis of locally-owned restaurants, shops

Governance

  • Good police attitude
  • Police department and Chief Spreine

Summary of Challenges

The group identified the following community challenges during group discussion and on written comment cards.

The Environment

Natural environment

  • Tourist trash on beaches, streets
  • Conserving resources - especially water
  • Slowly replacing landscape with more indigenous plants

Downtown

  • Filling empty stores downtown

Transportation

  • Restrict helicopter traffic in our air space to emergency vehicles only
  • More parking

Infrastructure

  • Upgrading infrastructure, maintenance

The Community

Image and Identity

  • Maintain distinction (i.e. no remodeling traditional homes...)
  • Over gentrification
  • Reducing trash, recyclable

Economy

  • Creative methods in tackling external growth, internal greed
  • Year round activities - not just for tourists
  • Balance between "hometown," "resort town"

Governance

  • Demonstrating elections can't be bought
  • Simplifying plan so that we can afford what we need vs. what we want

Summary of Visions

The group identified the following as major visions for Laguna Beach during group discussion and on written comment cards.

The Environment

Natural environment

  • No more development on hillsides
  • Less night light pollution
  • Clean up canyon entrance - maintain landscaping at all entrances

Housing

  • Affordable housing in old business areas, transitional neighborhoods
  • More local control in zoning/design review

Downtown

  • Limit commercialization

Transportation

  • Fire roads open to walk/bike paths?
  • Maximum of 2 cars per family - electric
  • Ban all diesel-powered vehicles - suvs, and phones used in car or public

The People

Education

  • Schools modernized

Children/youth

  • Skatepark or something for kids

Seniors

  • Provide recreational venues for all ages - teens and elderly are neglected

The Community

Arts and Culture

  • Home of a world-class music festival
  • More music around town in churches, museum, art institute, etc
  • Much more sculpture, murals downtown and in parks
  • Sidewalk cafes year-round

Image and Identity

  • Museum city, similar in concept to historic sections of paris or rome - character of [beach] town preserved

Governance

  • Ban jet skis
  • Ban lot-sized houses
  • Pass punitive laws about littering, pet waste, leashes on dogs, leaf blowers - encourage citizens to make arrests

Summary of Opportunities

The group identified the following opportunities during group discussion and on written comment cards.

The Environment

Natural environment

  • Create natural landscaped creek bed alongside Broadway from canyon to main beach
  • Start ocean awareness classes at high school and middle school as part of science curriculum
  • Develop volunteer program of beach police to monitor tourist littering, tide pool "raping"

Housing

  • Purchasing older unsightly buildings, partnering with private enterprise to create attractive, affordable housing
  • New hotel (TI) for community functions

Transportation

  • Planned computerized traffic, parking systems need to be purchased, installed. coordinate with CHP to initiate parking ticket (passes) purchasing booths at all village entrances

Infrastructure

  • City needs to actively develop a noise ordinance

The People

Children/youth

  • Vacant buildings, lots along canyon, Broadway redeveloped to include places for kids (Dana Point harbor has wonderful marine institute, baby beach, youth center, etc)

The Community

Arts and Culture

  • New lease with Festival of the Arts
  • Civic Arts district
  • More money (TI) for cultural things

Image and Identity

  • Expand gateway project to include art district, main beach, downtown
  • Create specific plans for each neighborhood
  • Sell the fountain beside the fire department - artistic joke, shame in self-professed artisans' city
  • Laguna needs no "gussying up" less decoration (i.e. landscaping)

Economy

  • Preferential tax treatment to encourage local business? promoting long time local business with advertising, "open houses" for businesses events, etc.
  • Discourage large chains (parking space limitation/requirement, building size restrictions...)