Development Firm Sues Laguna Beach Over Park

An Irvine development company filed a second lawsuit Thursday against the City of Laguna Beach over the city’s proposal to put a small park on a 300-foot strip of land that provides the only access to the company’s planned subdivision atop a hill overlooking the city.

The Carma-Sandling Group claims in its latest action that the Laguna Beach City Council amended its master plan last January “to give a greater priority” to mini-parks and to place one in front of the “only legal, practical and available means of access” to the 471-acre project, known as Laguna Heights.

The suit seeks an Orange County Superior Court order compelling the city to vacate its approval of the park.

Part of Overall Plan

The city’s action came a month after the Orange County Board of Supervisors tentatively approved a 108-unit, single-family development on 19.8 acres of the project. The land is in county territory, just outside the Laguna Beach boundary.

City Manager Ken Frank said that while the amendment to the master plan came only after the county’s tentative approval, it was not an attempt to block access to the proposed subdivision. Instead, he said, it was part of an overall plan to add three mini-parks and a major park to the city.

Dennis Sundstrom, executive vice president of Carma-Sandling, said the city not only failed to notify the company about the proposed park but also followed improper procedures in approving it.

The company filed a suit May 7 to block final city approval, but the suit was dismissed, Frank said.

Two other lawsuits over the project are pending. The company has sued the city, contending the city has in effect condemned the land by rendering it useless. The city, which does not want more than 70 homes built in the project, has sued Orange County on claims that it followed improper procedures in approving the subdivision. The company is handling the county’s defense, Sundstrom said.