Laguna Fest Proposals Have a Familiar Ring

Re “Laguna Fest Deal Riles Tennis Lovers,” June 30:

I read with some interest about the negotiations between the Festival of Arts and Laguna Beach Mayor Paul Freeman to renew the festival’s lease, which expires in less than three months.

The article said plans drawn up by the new festival board call for expansion of the Laguna Beach site and mentioned the addition of a museum, expansion of the theater, increased parking and year-round operation.

These ideas did not originate with the current festival board. They were offered to the Laguna Beach City Council three years ago by the previous festival board during lease negotiations.

A vision statement I wrote in September 1998, at the request of the previous board, called for additional parking spaces, an overhead or underground pedestrian crossing to neighboring arts festivals, a new administration building, adequate classroom and exhibit space, an attractive permanent facade, enhanced restaurant facilities, an atrium and sculpture garden, a larger and more modern stage building, new amphitheater seating and the creation of an all-weather venue.

The festival board had asked representatives of two architectural firms to walk the grounds and assess the facilities. Independently, these architects had identified both exciting possibilities and serious deficiencies, including moisture and drainage problems and failure to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act and current building codes.

That previous festival board asked Laguna Beach, its landlord, either to correct these deficiencies or to allow the festival to apply its lease payment toward their correction. And because the lease specified that all structures and improvements placed on the land would become the property of Laguna Beach, that board also asked that the festival be given some credit against lease costs for the extensive remodeling, repair and renovation it was proposing to undertake on the city’s behalf.

When the Laguna Beach City Council turned a deaf ear to both proposals, that previous festival board began to explore other options and, eventually, opened discussions with San Clemente. I hope that now, three years later, the Laguna Beach City Council is, at last, willing to listen to what was then a good idea and a more-than-fair proposal.

Sherri M. Butterfield

Mission Viejo