Laguna Beach to Seek Laurel Annexation

The Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday night decided it wants to annex the Laguna Laurel area, where a controversial development is proposed.

“I think it’s really important we do this. We’ve been fighting this battle on any number of fronts,” Mayor Dan Kenney said regarding the City Council’s stance against development in Laguna Canyon, considered to be one of the last undeveloped coastal canyons in California.

The council voted unanimously to have the city staff file applications with the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission to extend its sphere of influence so that it can eventually annex the area. LAFCO decides sphere of influence and annexation proposals.

The Irvine Co. has proposed a planned community with 3,200 homes, a golf course, a shopping district and a school on the unincorporated Laguna Canyon land north of Laguna Beach.

Although the Laguna Laurel area is still undeveloped and not within any city’s sphere of influence, the council’s request for annexation also includes pockets of inhabited areas along the southeast side of Laguna Canyon Road.

Councilwoman Lida Campbell Lenney brought the proposal before the City Council at the request of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy, a group formed three months ago with the mission of fighting development in the canyon.

Conservancy spokesman Andrew Ogden said the group hopes that LAFCO will approve the annexation and enable the City Council to review the plan and possibly change or remove it.

“We would like to see the development removed from the canyon,” Ogden said outside the Council Chamber. However, he added that it probably would take court action to change or remove the project, if the Board of Supervisors approves it next week.

“Whenever you annex, you have to opportunity to reevaluate what’s there,” City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said Tuesday afternoon. “In South Laguna, the council has tried to implement what was there (prior to annexation). It might continue the same way with Laguna Laurel, I don’t know.”

The Laguna Laurel area previously was within the city’s sphere of influence. But LAFCO removed it from the city’s sphere in 1981 at the request of the Irvine Co., Frank said.

City officials believe that Laguna Beach is the logical government to handle municipal services, such as police and fire, in Laguna Laurel. Officials are also concerned that the development will affect traffic on Laguna Canyon Road.

Additionally, an elementary school planned for the area would be in the Laguna Beach Unified School District.

Last month, LAFCO rejected Laguna Beach’s request to expand its sphere of influence to the Irvine Coast dedication area, Crystal Cove State Park and a portion of Laguna Laurel canyon, excluding the development area.