What’s inside:

•When do we get
parking downtown?

more

• Got a spare $2,000 to
$20,000 sitting around?
Then you might want to
know about a proposal to
make you spend it on your
sewer.

• How is the city budget
faring with the proposed
state changes? Not well.

hank you for reading this
newsletter and for your
constructive comments on
ways to make it better.

o you know someone
who should be receiving
this update? Please
e–mail me their name and
e–mail address and I’ll add
them to the list!

My e-mail address is
Cheryl@LoveLagunaBeach.com

Love Laguna Beach! is prepared by
Cheryl Kinsman, member of the
Laguna Beach City Council, as a
service to the people of Laguna
Beach. Not prepared, printed or
mailed at taxpayer expense.

Love Laguna Beach!

January 18, 2004(Volume 4, number 1)
by

Cheryl Kinsman

hen will we
downtown?

have

more

parking

One of Laguna’s most pressing needs is for
additional parking. Parking in the downtown area will
provide locals and visitors alike the opportunity to explore
Laguna’s downtown, artistic, and beach areas year round.

In order to clear the way for more close-in parking, the
city council has approved the move of the antiquated and
rusting city maintenance facility from its current location
adjacent to city hall to a facility to be built at the rear of
the ACT V parking lot in the Canyon. This will allow
additional parking spaces to be created next to city hall.

However, the creation of this additional downtown
parking has now been delayed by an appeal to the
California Coastal Commission by Laguna Beach council
member Toni Iseman, a Coastal Commission board
member. The city is now forced to go through a lengthy
and expensive appeal process before the additional
parking can be provided. The first Coastal Commission
hearing on this appeal will probably be at the February
18-20, 2004 meeting of the Commission to be held in La
Jolla.

mile–your
camera.

sewer

lateral

is

on

candid

Your sewer lateral–the pipe that connects your
house to the city sewer system–may soon need to be
inspected using a video camera if a proposed city
ordinance is adopted. This ordinance, which has the goal
of reducing the number of sewer spills in Laguna, is being
introduced at the council meeting of January 20.

There are probably some reasons that you will want to
ask questions about that ordinance. One reason is the
cost of the ordinance, both to the city and to the
homeowner. There are no cost estimates for either in the
draft ordinance.

Cost to the homeowner starts with the $250 estimated
cost of actually video taping the sewer. If there are
problems (such as intrusive roots or sewer line

T

D

W

S

cracks) perceived by the plumber doing the
video taping, the homeowner will then be
required to fix those problems. Estimates of
the costs of such fixes vary between $2,000 to
upwards of $20,000, depending on the
situation. Such repairs are mandated to be
completed within 180 days of notification to
the homeowner.

The costs to the city will include costs of
enforcement and the repaving of streets if
many street patches have been done as a result
of this program.

The ordinance as written is in need of a
“reasonableness test,” and needs much more
public input before it or its successor is passed.
I hope you will be at the City Council meeting
of January 20, 2004, to become informed
about this proposed regulation.

he Terminator is about to
terminate amajor source of
Laguna Beach revenue. How
will this affect our finances?

Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget
includes shifting city property taxes to the state
of California. This will cost the City of Laguna
Beach at least a half million dollars annually.

Since Laguna Beach has the highest per capita
property tax collection in the county (and
probably in the state), we will lose the most per
person of any city in the county. This is
money Laguna Beach uses to pay for public
safety, police, fire and lifeguards.

It is unfortunate that the state fiscal problems,
which are largely caused by state policies, are
being solved by going to local governments for
bail out money. This is money that most
localities just don’t have.

Fortunately, our city has been prudent and
won’t go bankrupt like some other cities,
which have been floating bonds, acquiring debt
to pay for their projects, will. Laguna Beach is
an almost debt free city, but we will be
severely hurt by what is going on in
Sacramento.

T