LAGUNA BEACH : Water District to Pay for Open Space

Laguna Beach may soon realize the first tangible advantage of a recent City Council decision to let the local water district build a 3-million-gallon reservoir in the Top of the World neighborhood. And it’s not water.

The city will get somewhere between $174,000 and $550,000 for land from the Laguna Beach County Water District after a long and controversial battle.

Since the reservoir site is environmentally sensitive, the city will use the money from the water district to buy a substitute piece of land for open space, 17.5 acres in the Canyon Acres area.

On Tuesday, the council will consider appropriating funds to proceed with the purchase.

The Canyon Acres property is being sold by Richard Massen for $102,000, and $5,000 would be spent for escrow costs, according to a memo to the council from Deputy City Manager Rob Clark.

The agreement with the water district was controversial partly because the water tank will be placed on a knoll some have considered environmentally sensitive. The Canyon Acres land is considered “replacement open space,” according Clark’s memo.

Located on a private section of Canyon Acres Drive, most of the land is steep and is not zoned for development. The purchase, however, would ensure that the land is preserved as open space, the memo says.

The Open Space Commission unanimously recommended that the city purchase the land during its meeting last week.

The reservoir was the subject of fierce political dispute as a council majority could never reach a consensus on the plan. The water district took legal action for the right to build the tank.

After a firestorm swept through Laguna Beach on Oct. 27, many people who lost homes blamed the council majority for failing to allow the reservoir they believed could have saved some homes.

Recently, the council agreed to the reservoir plan.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 505 Forest Ave.