LAGUNA BEACH : Deadline to Legalize Add-On Units Nears

South Laguna Beach property owners who have second residential units--also known as “granny flats”--on their lots have until Oct. 3 to file applications with the city to legalize their units.

The issue of legalizing such units has been controversial in the city, which lost a court battle on the subject.

Before the December, 1987, annexation of South Laguna, add-on apartments proliferated in that community under the county’s more relaxed standards.

After annexation, the city demanded that the apartments, some of which were built in the 1930s, be dismantled or brought into conformance with city building codes, including making sure the properties provided adequate parking.

South Laguna property owners sued the city and won, forcing the city to pay $650,000 for the opponents’ legal fees. The judge ruled in that case that the landowners had until Oct. 3, to apply for permits under the state’s more easily met standards.

But some property owners have dragged their feet, a spokesman for their attorney said this week after releasing a statement reminding the owners that time is running out.

“I think a lot of (the property owners) don’t have it on the front burner,” spokesman Tom Wilck said. “Our purpose is just to remind them, ‘Hey, we’ve got a deadline here.’ ”

City officials have said there are between 100 and 600 illegal add-on residences in the south end of the city.

“The problem is, what they’ve got out there now has never been legalized,” said Kathy Lottes, a city planner.

Since the court’s ruling, the city has received 66 applications for “administrative-use permits”--which confirm that the second residential units meet state planning requirements--and about half of them have been approved, Lottes said.