Plan Unit to Consider Law to Protect Views

City planners on Wednesday will consider a final draft of a proposed ordinance that would make Laguna Beach the county’s first city to establish its residents’ right to a view.

The View and Sunlight Access Preservation ordinance, which city officials have been shaping for a year, would require City Council approval before becoming law.

The question of how involved the city should be in seeing that views are not obscured by trees and other vegetation on private property has divided residents here, pitting view preservationists against others who say that city trees deserve equal protection.

“The whole thing is very anti-tree,” said Ann Christoph, a member of the Laguna Landscape Conservancy, formed last fall. “We’re concerned this whole effort is setting up a negative attitude toward trees.”

City planners have considered two earlier drafts of the view ordinance. One was offered by residents who had been urging the city to take a stand; the other was an earlier version of the current proposal.

The latest draft states that residents have “the right to preserve a reasonable amount of the view and/or sunlight” that existed when they bought their property or when the law becomes effective, whichever is later.

The most controversial provision of the earlier draft, which would have made the law retroactive for up to five years, has been deleted.

The law would set up a process by which residents could resolve view disputes through mediation, arbitration or lawsuits.

City officials have said it could help residents in court by showing that the city places a high value on views and by showing that, as one planning commissioner put it, the resident has followed an “established city procedure” before attempting to bring a lawsuit.

View proponents, however, say the city should take a stronger position, including becoming more involved in enforcing the law.

The Planning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall, 505 Forest Ave.

Information: (714) 497-0713.