Part of Old Treatment Plant Placed on Historic Registry

The Laguna Beach City Council has moved to put part of an old sewage treatment plant, called a “concrete toilet” by one council member, on the city’s historic register.

Council members voted unanimously Tuesday night to preserve the plant’s cylinder and office portions and place them, along with City Hall and the central fire station, on the register.

The cylinder, used to vent the old sewage plant, is a lighthouse-shaped structure on the hillside above Laguna Canyon Road.

The council also awarded a $160,000 contract for demolition of the remainder of the abandoned sewage facility to Power Breaking Inc. An additional $96,000 was earmarked for preservation costs.

Responding to a comment by Councilman Neil G. Fitzpatrick that the sewage plant is a “concrete toilet,” Mayor Robert F. Gentry said it was “important to save historical buildings.”