Traffic and Mobility Alerts
Road Closures
- Hillcrest Drive: Between Fairview and Wave Street
- Duration: Monday August 3 - Friday August 7
- Time: 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
- Reason: Utility undergrounding
Public Meetings This Week
- Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Committee
- City Council Meeting
- Administrative Community Development Director Meeting
- Planning Commission
Public Safety
Marine Safety Surf Forecast
Friday August 7
- Surf: 2-4 feet
- Weather: Partially Cloudy. High 79 degrees
- Water Temp: Low to mid 70s
Saturday August 8
- Surf: 2-3 feet
- Weather: Sunny. Moring marine layer. High upper 70s
- Water Temp: 70
Sunday August 9
- Surf: 2-3 feet
- Weather: Partially Cloudy. High 78 degrees
- Water Temp: Low 70s
Emergency Preparedness
Watch Duty Community Presentation
Join Laguna Beach Emergency & Disaster Preparedness Committee (EDPC) for special guest speaker, Sara Paul, Founding Team Member and Community Manager at Watch Duty. Hear about the nonprofit's history, how they operate, how to get the most out of their app, and upcoming features. Registration is not required. All are welcome at this public meeting at City Council Chambers.
Click to view EDPC Agenda Here
Disaster Preparedness Starts Here
Are you prepared for a disaster? Learn how at the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Academy. This 3-week program will meet Tuesday & Thursday evenings from Sept 29 — Oct 15, with a Final Exercise on Saturday, Oct. 17. You must attend all classes and the final exercise to complete the academy.
Click Here to Sign Up for the CERT Academy today!
Police Department
National Night Out
Join Laguna Beach's First Responders for National Night Out on August 3, 2026 from 5pm-8pm at Main Beach! We will have demonstrations from Laguna Beach Police, Fire, and Marine Safety. Learn more about what our first responders do and meet our team! We hope to see you there and enjoy our local vendors, games, food, and music!
Signup for E-Bike Safety Training Course
Fire Department
Fuel Mod Update
Goat Zones: Goats are finishing up and at FMZ 6 (Fire Road) and are headed to FMZ 5 (Nestall). Outstanding zones include FMZ 7 (Ceanothus) and FMZ 3 (Hidden Valley/Pacific).
Handcrew Zones: All zones have had 2 passes completed for the year and additional work will be scheduled as needed. Some work is expected to occur at FMZ 12/13/15 (Nyes & Oro Canyon) to complete work that was excluded during pass 2. Fuel Modification Zone 19 (Diamond & Crestview) is currently being flagged for treatment, and a start date is currently being scheduled. Work in FMZ 19 is expected to begin within the next 2 months and updates will be provided as they are known.
Community Events and Recreation
Community Events
Music in the Park
August 2, Spencer The Gardener will showcase their indie surf salsa vibes.
August 9, Missus Jones tribute to Amy Winehouse
Concerts start at 5:00 p.m. Click Here for Performance schedule and information.
Set up is not permitted before 3:00 p.m. No dogs allowed at Bluebird Park (LBMC 6.16.020). No smoking (LBMC 7.40.030). No display or sale of merchandise (LBMC 18.04.015). No drones (LBMC 7.80). Low-seating beach chairs are encouraged. Alcohol is permitted for guests 21 or older, but must be accompanied by a full meal. Solicitation of any kind is not permitted at City events.
Music on the Promenade
Live music returns to the promenade on Forest Avenue starting July 10. Enjoy evening music as you shop, dine, or stroll in the heart of Laguna Beach, from 5:30–7:30 p.m. every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through August 30, 2026. Performance schedule and information available here.
Deadlines and Reminders
Candidate Nomination Period Now Open for November 2026 Election
The nomination period for the November 2026 Laguna Beach Municipal General Election is now open. Three City Council seats are up for election.
- Nomination period: July 13 – August 7, 2026
- Nomination papers must be filed with the City Clerk's Office during this period.
- City Hall is closed on August 7 (the final filing day); however, the City Clerk will be available by appointment from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. that day to accept filings.
- Appointments are required. To schedule, email amckay@lagunabeachcity.net or call (949) 497-0309.
For more information about candidate filing requirements, visit lagunabeachcity.net/elections, or contact the City Clerk's Office.
Projects and Notices in Your Community
View Public Notices
- Development activity
- Public hearings
- CEQA related notices
City Hall Schedule
City Hall will be open Monday - Thursday 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. this week.
City Hall will be closed this Friday.
Message from the City Manager
Below is a summary of what’s on the City Council agenda for this coming Tuesday, August 4, 2026. In this agenda summary, I cover what I think are the more noteworthy items that will appear on the Council agenda.If you want to see the entire agenda, click here. My agenda summary doesn’t include all of the items up for consideration – just ones that I think should have additional community awareness.Please share this with others if you represent a neighborhood association (thanks!).
Our meetings generally start at 5:00 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month (except for July and August) at Laguna Beach City Hall, 505 Forest Avenue – the meeting is in the Council Chambers adjacent to Fire Station #1.Our next meeting after this one isn’t until September 22, reflecting our traditional late summer dark period.
I’m going to digress here. The break is important. For City staff, some of us feel like we started up after the December holiday and went right into overwhelmed mode. Being able to both catch up and take some time off is important – I know I need it. From some personal stuff (a surgery and then losing my two dogs) to hard work issues (like the Promenade and its trees, some key staff members moving on while being challenging to replace), it’s been a hard seven months for me. I don’t think I’ve been my best self, including in returning emails or keeping up with our tasks. It helps me to remind myself what went well, and what we do well here (because there’s a lot).Like:
- We received a super email from a Jr Guard mom who talked about her daughter’s overall experience this season during what was a serious summer in the water – the swells can intimidate some of our best swimmers, and the JGs and the program navigated through all of that very well. That’s a great tribute to the Marine Safety leadership and its JG team.
- Our Public Works maintenance team kept up pretty darn well with the crowds through July (usually our biggest month, because in August so many return to school now). It’s anecdotal on my part, but the beaches stayed pretty clean, the trash picked up, and I don’t see nearly as much trash in the street gutters as years past. Yet the place is still busy. I hope that the “Laguna Like a Local” campaign was part of that change.
- Our Public Works capital team brought the Promenade to the finish line (almost there!) – there is nothing quite as challenging as completing a capital improvement project under the direct eyes of the entire community, and while businesses were trying to survive. Our construction manager, Sara Bekr (also an LB resident) was such a great help here. August should see the completion of this project, which started in February. Meantime, please find time to patronize the Forest Avenue businesses (and all across town) to remind them that we’re all behind them.
- Our Transit and Community Services team kept our great programs going, addressed the Pool’s closure, added a new program from scratch (the temporary pump track) started planning for the Centennial, and completed an entirely new and detailed procurement for a new mobile parking vendor. This might seem minor and bureaucratic, but trust me, it’s not minor (it IS bureaucratic!). The new mobile parking vendor will transition in after summer, and its technology upgrades will be significant.
- If you didn’t see it this week, the Police Department continues its normal exemplary functions PLUS did yet another robust traffic enforcement (noise- and speed-related). They issued 16 citations for loud exhaust violations (loudest reading recorded at 123 dBA). Officers stopped a total of 106 vehicles, resulting in 136 individual violations being cited and 33 warnings issued, including:
- 30 citations for basic speed law violations or exceeding 65 miles per hour
- 8 drivers cited for driving unlicensed or with a suspended license
- 4 e-motorcycle drivers were cited
- 3 vehicles were impounded
- 5 individuals were arrested for Bench Warrants and other misdemeanor charges.
(hey, still in regard to PD (and Fire and Marine Safety), come out to Main Beach at 5:00 p.m. til 8:00 p.m. on Monday, August 3 for National Night Out – say hi and ask any questions you might have).
- Lots of accomplishments this year from Fire – from a new goat vendor to earning an ISO-2 rating in May (only 10% of all departments in CA have this rating), we’ve continued to add FireWise communities across town.We’ve got 5 now. It’s straightforward to do, and very important. And the work of our Emergency Management team over the off-season to do multiple community workshops across town should help us as fire season approaches. Our brand new Emergency Operations Center will open next month, too.
But back to the agenda:
We have a study session this week – starting at 3:00 p.m. It’s brief – appointments to the View Restoration Committee and to the Housing and Human Services Committee.
The regular session starts at 5:00 p.m.
I’ll highlight these items:
- I didn’t brag on the Community Development Department above, because I saved it for now. On the agenda is the Workload Summary that CDD has been doing for about 18 months now. Back in April of 2025, they started to meet their measurement goals, and they continue to do so. This doesn’t mean that some projects don’t have issues – but now each Zoning Plan Check has a 13-day average queue time (in August 2024 it was 57 days!), and nearly all ZPCs are completed for first plan check in 30 days or less. This is even as applications in the system are at 244, which is up from 192 in August 2024. At Council’s request we also measure time in the pipeline – the amount of time from application submittal to a building permit. Our baseline from July 2025 was 524 days for projects that had to go through discretionary review (like DRB or PC). The latest tracking of projects shows 371 days now. That’s still a lot – but it’s also a significant improvement. Remember, processing times include time with the applicant’s designer, and time before DRB or PC.Our own design review standards – which protect Laguna’s character – factor in here. At the same time, CDD has been able to carve out some critical “Advanced Planning” efforts – like updating our General Plan, adopting a Design Review Efficiency ordinance, and considering what “Objective Design Standards” will protect Laguna Beach (as mandated by State housing law).My congrats to the CDD team, especially Director Matt Schneider. I would be remiss if I did not congratulate the City Attorney’s Office, too, in helping much of this work progress.
- The City’s Environmental Sustainability Committee (ESC) has recommended NOT joining the OC Power Authority at this time, citing fiscal uncertainty there. ESC recommends revisiting at the end of 2027.
- The City will consider hiring the Laguna Canyon Foundation to get us background data and the pros and cons of adding our open space properties to the Natural Communities Conservation Plan (NCCP) / Nature Reserve of Orange County (NROC).
- In another ESC Item, Council will consider a resolution suggesting the State should take efforts to reduce microplastics in our environment.
- I spoke earlier of the new EOC. It’s no longer a secret that the Emergency Disaster Preparedness Committee (EPDC) – which last meeting was honored for its 15th year of helping the community - will consider asking the Council to, under the City’s formal naming policy (which does not allow for surprises!), name the new EOC after the amazing, remarkable, and dedicated Matt Lawson.
- In an effort to increase efficiencies in CDD (see above), an item would collaborate with CrossBeam AI to provide application completeness checks and first plan review services to CDD (and more).
- Council member Rounaghi asked his colleagues to consider advocating before the County of Orange for limits on herbicide use upstream in Aliso Creek, citing the impacts of herbicide down the watershed.
- 6-year veteran in Public Works, Director Mark McAvoy told me this week that he has accepted a role with the Port of Long Beach administering the Port’s CIP program. I’m sad for us, but happy for Mark.Mark doesn’t depart for a few weeks yet, but an item on the 8-4 agenda replaces him as an alternate to the South Orange County Wastewater Authority (SOCWA) board.
- A discussion and presentation item involves the aforementioned Objective Design Standards for single- and two-family residential development. In short, this is an effort to comply with State law that directs that each community needs to have a purely objective process for approving some types of housing.In Laguna, we of course have Design Review – but that’s subjective. WE HAVE TO DO THIS. The consultant we’ve used to develop the ODS has had a number of workshops, and I think has done a good job capturing Laguna’s style and character and applying it to objective standards. For instance, it recommends specific architectural form groups (Tudor, English Cottage, Ranch, Mid-Century) as well as standards of elements within each form group (doors, roofs, walls, etc). It’s objective – but not boilerplate. Please take a look at the documents – they’re uploaded with the agenda packet.
- Another discussion item involves advancing our Fleet Electrification program.
- Lastly before Public Hearings / Appeals is one of the final steps relating to the DR efficiency ordinance, allowing some continuity there (most of this was adopted last meeting).
- There is one appeal – that being 31985/87 Coast Highway, which is on the ocean side of PCH just south of 1,000 Steps.
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