Laguna Urged to Cut Power of Design Panel : Hearing: Local realtors take their case to the City Council. But many residents speak in support of the review board.

Local realtors took their case against the Design Review Board to City Hall on Tuesday, asking the City Council to reduce the board’s power and remove its members.

The action followed a study by the Laguna Board of Realtors involving more than 140 property owners who attempted to gain city approval to build or remodel homes over the past 18 months. Most respondents had negative comments to make about the process, many saying it had been unfair, intimidating or too costly.

But by the end of the two-hour public hearing Tuesday, more than twice as many residents had spoken in support of the review board than in opposition to it. Some derided the realtors as pro-development and motivated by profit.

“Having the board of realtors redesign the Design Review Board is like having the fox redesign the chicken coup,” said Village Laguna president Johanna Felder.

The council voted unanimously to meet with Design Review Board members, evaluate information from the board of realtors and testimony gathered Tuesday night, and decide on possible changes.

Respondents to the recent study criticized the board for being unqualified, failing to provide guidelines, not applying standards uniformly and making decisions arbitrarily.

When realtors presented the survey results during a press conference last week, they called it “an overwhelming call for change.” Realtor Courtney Jahnz said some residents were so frustrated by the process that they moved or considered lawsuits against the city.

Laguna Beach has been hit with four lawsuits in the past 18 months regarding design review decisions. One involved a couple whose home plan was rejected by the board in December in part because it would have cast a shadow on an existing house.

At the time they were attempting to gain city approval, the couple said the process had cost them an extra $35,000, including $7,000 for sun studies.

Realtors called for the city to appoint a committee to further study the board and to make marked changes in the way it operates.

For example, realtors say current members should be removed and new, better qualified, members appointed. In addition, they say design review should be eliminated for single-family homes unless a variance is required.

Design Review Board supporters, however, credit the five- member panel with being the key link in maintaining the city’s village ambience.

“If we do away with it, (Laguna Beach) is going to start looking like Dana Point and Newport Beach,” a supporter said.

In August, Village Laguna released a report supportive of the board, which said the panel approved 48 of 60 new-home proposals it considered and all but six of the 73 plans for home additions.

Also Tuesday, the council unanimously agreed to remove “antiquated wording” from a city law regarding dance permits, which allowed permits to be revoked from establishments frequented by “persons of ill repute, such as professional gamblers, prostitutes or homosexuals.”

Police uncovered the wording when researching a dance permit for one of the city’s gay bars.

“I’m certainly glad it’s going to be off of the books, because I don’t want to be a law-breaking citizen,” Laguna’s openly gay mayor, Robert F. Gentry, said.