LAGUNA HILLS : Statistical Portrait of City Completed

After months of collecting interviews and statistics, a consulting firm will present to the City Council tonight a 450-page portrait of the city, its people and its priorities.

The hefty document is the product of the data-collection phase of the young city’s General Plan process. Factors as disparate as resident income and the number of baseball diamonds citywide were included in the report, which will assist the council’s decisions on broad policy goals.

“This provides the information base so the city can look ahead,” said project manager David Hudson, whose company, Planning Network, compiled the report. He said descriptions of the city’s residents, development, economic environment and natural surroundings were all included.

“If we can do a good job of describing it right now and identifying the concerns of the community right now, we can try to create a vision of its future needs,” Hudson said.

Documenting the city’s lack of playing fields and gauging community interest in spending tax money to improve the situation will allow council members to prioritize that need, Hudson said.

State law mandates that every city formulate a general plan within 30 months of incorporation to guide its policy and projects.

Laguna Hills, which incorporated in December, 1991, is about one-third of the way through the general plan process, Hudson said. The next step, beginning with tonight’s presentation to the council and public workshop, is discussing problems and issues suggested by the compiled information. Finally comes the actual drafting of the plan.

City Senior Planner John Libiez said the “think-tank stuff” that went into amassing the report, including a detailed timeline of events that led to the city incorporation, will let council members know if they have correctly identified citizen concerns.

The public workshop will be at 7 tonight in the council chambers, 25201 Paseo de Alicia, Suite 150. For more information, call (714) 707-2600.