LAGUNA BEACH : City to Pay Half on Canyon Bond Poll

The City Council voted Wednesday to pick up half the tab for a $6,000 poll to gather further information about how much residents would pay to stop or reduce development in Laguna Canyon.

The 4-0 vote, cast during a special meeting, brought the council one step closer to placing an open-space bond measure on the November ballot. Councilman Dan Kenney was absent.

The proposed bond measure would be used to buy at least part of the 2,150-acre Laguna Laurel development site between El Toro Road and Interstate 5. The Irvine Co., which owns the land and plans to build 3,200 homes there, will pay the remaining $3,000 for the telephone poll.

A recent survey conducted by Sacramento pollster J. Moore Methods found that 66% of Laguna Beach respondents would pay $100 per year for 20 years to preserve a section of Laguna Canyon as public wilderness park. At the same time, that poll of 700 people found that a countywide referendum to raise money to buy open space in Laguna Canyon and elsewhere would probably fall short of the necessary two-thirds majority.

Last week, the council voted unanimously to tentatively proceed with a local bond measure. To avoid miscalculating how much city voters would actually pay, the council agreed that a second poll should be taken.

Between now and the weekend, pollsters are expected to question about 350 residents for about 10 minutes each. The poll will yield information about the broad attitudes of Laguna Beach residents and the likelihood of voters approving the bond measure.

Passage of a local measure would raise about $10 million, while the value of the development site has been estimated at $50 million to $100 million, officials say. But environmentalists say the $10 million could serve as a down payment and additional funds could be solicited from other sources.

Laguna Beach Mayor Lida Lenney said she has received calls from some residents who say they would pay more than $100 each year to preserve the canyon as open space. One woman called City Hall on Tuesday and offered a $500 donation toward the land, she said.

Irvine Co. officials say they are willing to keep working with the city as it searches for ways to purchase the land. “We want to continue to be helpful to the city of Laguna Beach as they evaluate the next steps in trying to secure a bond measure,” company spokeswoman Dawn McCormick said Wednesday.

The poll results should be available in time for a public hearing on the proposed bond measure scheduled for the July 24 council meeting, Lenney said.