LAGUNA NIGUEL : Residents’ Input on General Plan Sought

The City Council has launched a $300,000 project to create a plan to guide future development in the city.

To involve residents in the project, an 11-member task force will be formed to help shape the growth-management section of the city’s new General Plan, which outlines residential and commercial development. In addition, a series of workshops and town-hall meetings will be held over the next 14 months to encourage community participation.

Mayor Patricia C. Bates said the plan will give residents their first chance to directly participate in community planning. Until now, citizens have been “one step removed” from the planning process, she said.

“In the General Plan process, they’re going to be there from the ground up,” she said. “It’s an extremely exciting project that will involve the entire community. (It’s been) a long time coming.”

Until now, development in Laguna Niguel has been shaped largely by nine separate community plans. The new goal is to form one cohesive blueprint to govern all city development. According to state law, Laguna Niguel must have a General Plan in effect by June 1, 1992.

Although about 75% of the city’s land was developed or committed before Laguna Niguel’s Dec. 1, 1989, incorporation, Bates noted, there is still enough undeveloped land to make the new General Plan meaningful.

For example, information gathered from residents could influence whether condominiums, single-family homes or a commercial center will be built at a given development site, Bates said. In addition, comments from residents will help city officials decide whether open space should be developed for “active” recreational uses, such as baseball diamonds, or be left untouched, she said.

“We will understand as we go through the process what sort of flexibility there is in terms of development agreements,” she said.

Last week, the council unanimously approved a $323,600 contract with the Planning Center, a Newport Beach consulting firm that will prepare the General Plan.

Applications for membership on the growth-management task force are available at the city clerk’s office, and the deadline is May 7. For more information, call (714) 643-1610.