Committee Being Formed To Review Village Entrance Project
New committee will review long-Gestating project before asking for public's opinion
Posted on November 09, 2011 by Glen Gunner.
The Village Entrance project has been debated for over 20 years, and the project is still no closer to becoming a reality. The proposed Village Entrance has seen many different proposals for how to potentially create new walkways from Laguna Canyon to the main Laguna Village area, with the development taking place across from the Festival of Arts' grounds. According to an article in the Laguna Beach Independent ("Village Entrance Project Revived Again"), a planned public forum scheduled for December 13th has been put on hold because the Laguna Beach City Council would like to review the project in advance.
The article states that council member Elizabeth Pearson would like to work with Laguna Mayor Toni Iseman to review the project and make recommendations in advance of opening it up to public opinion. Per the article, this is a long-gestating project that spans back over 20 years, and there has never been an agreement over how to complete the project. The most recent plans for the Village Entrance called for a 462-space parking structure with residential, retail and office units being built along with a park and walkways leading to the Downtown area. In 2008, the City Council discussed partnering with a private developer to build the project, and the parking situation has become more serious with the newer pieces of Laguna Beach real estate being built in the Laguna Canyon. Mayor Iseman claims that the committee will look at previous public input, environmental reports, parking studies, and planning commission recommendations when formulating their own recommendations for how the project should proceed. Mayor Iseman and Mrs. Pearson plan on submitting their recommendations next February, so for now the public forum on the Village Entrance has been tabled.
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