Laguna Beach City Hall reports 17 of 22 planned environmental protection programs are underway

Significant progress has been made with respect to program implementation for Laguna Beach’s neighborhood and environmental protection plan, a $2-million commitment made in March to mitigate visitor impacts.

Eight months after the Laguna Beach City Council voted unanimously in favor of the plan, city officials reported back to the council that 17 of 22 programs proposed in the plan have been implemented.

Some of the focus areas have revolved around trash collection, a ban on single-use plastics, and public and beach safety.

Efforts made to cut back on single-use plastics included the prohibition of such items in city beaches, parks and trails, as well as a ban on the use and provision of single-use plastics by local businesses.

The city has sought to educate local businesses, residents and visitors on this policy through different mediums. Staff mailed notices to restaurants, and targeted messaging has appeared on social media for those who have indicated that they might visit Laguna Beach, senior management analyst Jeremy Frimond said during the Laguna Beach City Council meeting Tuesday. Electronic message boards have also served notice at the city’s entrances.

Education regarding the plastics ordinance has been widespread, with staff reporting that 780,000 impressions — a one-time display of content to a social media or Google user — have occurred because of the online messaging campaign.

A total of 35 water bottle refilling stations are to be installed across the city.

Laguna Beach has also increased the frequency of its trash pickup. Between May 28 and Oct. 3, the city brought in 45 crews to assist with cleaning up litter on weekends in the neighborhoods of South Laguna, North Laguna and Top of the World.

A partnership with the Laguna Canyon Foundation has also led to a trail ambassador program. A staff report said that there were 240 hours accrued while staffing the trail ambassador program at Alta Laguna Park on weekends between May 1 and Sept. 6.

Gene Felder, the president of the Top of the World Neighborhood Assn., said “it was a zoo up here” in characterizing the ongoings in the neighborhood prior to the council’s action to approve the wide-ranging plan geared toward addressing visitor impacts.

“One of the very helpful things is with the Laguna Canyon Foundation — the ambassadors program,” Felder said. “Due to COVID, we just had people who came out to the trailheads here in the wilderness park who had never been to a wilderness park before and didn’t know how to behave, so the ambassadors from the Laguna Canyon Foundation helped a lot.”

Year-round lifeguard service has now been implemented at Crescent Bay, Shaw’s Cove, Victoria Beach and the Driftwood neighborhood beaches, the staff report said.

Additional beach safety measures included a lifeguard tower in the summer at Mermaids Beach and an evening patrol officer for marine safety.

The expansion in marine safety services resulted in an additional 376 rescues, 525 medical calls for service answered, 14,300 reminders served with respect to city ordinances such as drinking and smoking, and 33,800 preventive contacts to stop individuals from engaging in dangerous activities before they occur.

“We’re seeing over 45,000 additional behavioral related contacts made to the public regarding our ordinances and being safe within the beach just alone out of this program, in addition to what [our marine safety department is] already doing,” Frimond said.

A neighborhood enhancement team was also approved by the council on Sept. 21. The group will look to address quality of life issues within the community. The expected personnel for the law enforcement unit include a sergeant, two corporals, two community outreach officers, two motor officers, five park rangers and a community service officer.

“A loud bar, that would be more of a code enforcement issue, but this is really focused on residential neighborhoods and issues that are impacting them,” City Manager Shohreh Dupuis said.

Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.