Activists Petition for Open Space

A group of Laguna Beach conservation advocates has gathered more than 3,000 signatures and submitted a petition to the city clerk to ensure that 20% of the city’s land remains open space.

“The city bought these parcels as open space, and we just want to make sure it stays that way,” said Elisabeth Brown, president of Laguna Greenbelt. “The initiative would rezone 1,100 acres of open space and ban any development for 30 years. Then, if the City Council decided to build on it, [it] would have to get approval from the voters.”

The parcels included in the initiative are mostly steep hillsides and wilderness park land interspersed throughout the city and canyon areas. The largest parcels are off Laguna Canyon Road, with others near Arch Beach Heights, the Irvine Bowl and Bluebird Canyon.

The initiative was met with enthusiastic acceptance by many environmentally conscious residents of the beach city.

“We only needed 1,660 signatures, and we gathered almost twice as many,” said Brown. “People were coming up to our volunteers and asking to sign the petition.”

Resident Jeannette Merrilees is pleased at the prospect of keeping the space free of development.

“The whole town is for it,” she said. “That’s what we’ve always been about. We willingly taxed ourselves to buy the Main Beach and develop a greenbelt. Maintaining open space is not a controversial thing here in Laguna.”

Councilman Wayne L. Peterson said he supports the concept and is likely to vote for the proposal if Laguna Greenbelt addresses some minor questions and concerns, like the need for playground space.

“In that case, I’d be inclined to just approve it,” he said. “There’s no sense of going to the cost and effort of putting it on the ballot if there isn’t a need.”

The Laguna Beach Greenbelt enlisted 150 volunteers, who circulated petitions for three weeks.

The Orange County registrar of voters office has six weeks to verify the signatures, and if verified, the petition could be submitted to the City Council as soon as July 13.

The council would then have two options: adopt the initiative or let the voters decide in November. The proposal is unlikely to face opposition from City Council members, City Manager Ken Frank said. The 87 parcels are already designated as open space, and the city doesn’t have any plans to build on them, he said.

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An Open Suggestion

Laguna Beach activists are trying to ensure that 20% of the city’s land remains open space for at least 30 years. If their petition is adopted by the City Council or approved by voters, the city would need voter approval to build on the designated space. Much of the land in question is north of the downtown area: