Art Museum Plan Still on Drawing Board

Discussions about keeping the Laguna Art Museum’s building open are taking longer than anticipated, according to participants who had hoped to present a plan to the City Council tonight.

It might be two weeks before agreement on a plan is reached between museum board members and opponents of their proposal to merge with the Newport Harbor Art Museum of Newport Beach.

Save Laguna Art Museum, a group opposing the merger, wants to give the community more time for input, a spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Margaret A. Maynard, curator of education at the Laguna museum, has resigned after three years to take a similar post at the San Jose Museum of Art. Maynard said she wants to work in a larger education department, and that her decision was not prompted by concerns that she might lose her job through staff consolidation resulting from a merger. She expects to begin her new job within a month.

Laguna director Naomi Vine said she had made no decision about replacing Maynard.