Reactions vary to judge’s decision on Laguna Canyon 30-unit project

A judge’s ruling that the California Coastal Commission erred in approving a 30-unit artist work/live project in Laguna Canyon generated a range of reactions citywide.

“I’m sick to my stomach,” said Laguna Beach sculptor Louis Longi, the project’s developer. “I spent 10 years doing this thing. I don’t know what the next steps are.”

But opponents had a different reaction altogether.

“We’re delighted,” said Gene Felder, vice president of Laguna Canyon Conservancy. “The most important issues for the conservancy are Laguna Canyon Creek being a blue-line stream that needs to be protected, and that buildings constructed are set back from the bank of the creek.”

Orange County Superior Court Judge Kim Dunning ruled Thursday that the Coastal Commission did not support its finding that two, two-story buildings should be placed 25 feet from the center of Laguna Canyon Creek, and that six of 10 commissioners should not have voted since they did not properly report private correspondence with the developers.

It has been more than two years since the Laguna Beach City Council upheld, in a 3-2 vote, the Planning Commission’s approval, also a 3-2 decision, of the 0.84-acre project at 20412 and 20432 Laguna Canyon Road.

A group of residents, including land use consultant Roger Butow, appealed the council’s 2014 decision to the Coastal Commission, alleging the project would be out of context with canyon development standards that emphasize small-scale and rural structures. They were also concerned about environmental impacts to the creek.

The Coastal Commission approved the project in January 2015 and a group called Friends of the Canyon, led by resident Jackie Gallagher, sued the commission in March 2015.

The group claimed the facility should be placed farther from the creek, 25 feet from the bank. Gallagher could not reached for comment by phone or email Friday.

Interpretations varied over whether the creek, which has a history of flooding during major rainstorms, is on the state’s major watershed drainage course map, a necessary designation for structures to be placed 25 feet from a stream’s banks.

The Coastal Commission’s decision that the creek was “not identifiable” on the map is “irrelevant as an incorrect standard” and “not supported by substantial evidence,” the ruling said.

“Nothing in the administrative record suggests any blue-line stream or significant watercourse in Laguna Canyon has ever been omitted from the [drainage course] map,” Dunning wrote.

The project illuminated a broader reality at play in the city, Planning Commissioner Anne Johnson said.

“It’s one of those difficult projects for Laguna Beach with two competing goods,” Johnson said. “You’ve got a good community and environment, and on the other hand we need low-income housing for our artists.”

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Bryce Alderton, bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce