Laguna Beach Design Is Best Left to Designers

As a Laguna Beach architect, I have over the years observed, with increasing concern, the discussions revolving around the design review process for the city. I feel it has reached to the point where some response should accompany those observations.

Realizing the diverse and ever-changing needs that set the criteria for architectural design has always been a prerequisite for practicing in Laguna Beach. I, along with the majority of architects in this town, accept that. But having read Mary Douglas’ letter concerning the issue (“The House of a Different Color--Laguna Design Panel Is Right,” March 3), I have heard enough.

Douglas’ letter clearly enunciates, as well as promotes, the polarity that has slowly but certainly occurred between the design community and the Design Review Board in Laguna Beach. But don’t let the content of this letter mislead your readers. Though Douglas woes the political stirrings surrounding the Design Review Board, it is, in fact, the board that is doing the stirring.

It is inherently political motivation that has always determined the appointments to Design Review Board. In that regard, Laguna Beach is not different from any other city. But those political interests have now the momentum to influence a governing board that since its inception was to be objective and impartial. Even though the board members claim to have the interests of the community in mind, their opinions appear to be merely an extension of the policies of a minority preservationist coalition.

What truly angers and frustrates me most is that Douglas, the Design Review Board and the organizations that guide their ideals seem to forget that our clients are members of this diverse community--the community that Douglas spoke so fondly of, whose very character was created by designers and architects, not design review boards.

And this is the true irony: As designers and architects working (and many living) in Laguna Beach, we are constantly in touch with an indisputable source of community opinion--our clients. Accumulatively, these clients represent thousands of residents who express their needs and concerns honestly and openly, not in the cloaked rhetoric of the skillfully disguised political arena.

Yes, Ms. Douglas, “let us not be distracted” or “confused,” but certainly, let us not be misled either.

DANIEL MARTINEZ, Laguna Beach