LAGUNA BEACH : Council OKs Concept of Widening Road

After years of opposing any widening or straightening of the curvy Laguna Canyon Road, the City Council has agreed in concept to widening the road to four lanes and realigning it where it cuts between three natural lakes.

The council stopped short, however, of endorsing a plan proposed by the county that calls for a more extensive realignment of the highway, which winds through some of the most scenic land in Orange County.

The council’s action followed a 4 1/2-hour public hearing Tuesday night.

Many Laguna Beach residents have been ambivalent about whether the winding roadway should be altered to make it safer and to allow the lakes to be restored or whether it should be left as is to preserve its rural ambience.

These feelings were summed up by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, who was hired by the city to describe the effect changes to the roadway might have on the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park at the city’s edge. Halprin is designing the park.

“I think this is a wonderful project, and I’m ambivalent about it myself,” he said.

The area being considered for change is a 4.6-mile strip of highway from about El Toro Road to the San Diego Freeway.

A “preferred alternative” favored by a 17-member committee that met in closed-door sessions last year calls for the two- to three-lane highway to be widened to four lanes and shifted several hundred yards west of its current location.

That option has also been favored by some environmentalists because of its benefit to the lakes at the edge of the road. With the road removed, two of the three lakes could be reconnected.

Another possibility considered by the council calls for the road to be widened to four lands but keep its current alignment. The council majority agreed it would be wiser to create a third alternative.

The city will work with county representatives to come up with an acceptable alternate plan.

During the meeting, the council voted 4 to 1 to approve the concept of a four-lane road with a median and shifting the road away from the three lakes. Councilman Wayne L. Peterson voted against it.

Peterson and Councilwoman Kathleen Blackburn both favored the county’s “preferred alternative” but were unable to sway any of the other three council members.