Laguna Beach approves temporary animal care facility for Pacific Marine Mammal Center

As the Pacific Marine Mammal Center looks to continue with a $14-million expansion project for which it broke ground four months ago, officials for the center noted the time has come for operations to move to an interim site.

The Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday unanimously backed plans to put a temporary animal care facility in place at the Laguna Beach Dog Park.

A rendering of the proposed site showed that it would be located in the northernmost section of the dog park, adjacent to the Laguna Food Pantry. The facility will feature a concrete base, five small pens and three large pens for marine mammal care, a shade structure for the pools, an animal hospital tent, a storage area for equipment, tanks for clean and dirty water, and a trailer for staff use.

Expected to be in place from September through August 2024, the off-site facility would have daily operating hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. City officials said there is no parking proposed for the alternate location, and it will be closed to the public.

The replacement animal care facility is expected to utilize 15,700 square feet of space, which city staff said equates to 12.8% of the 2.8-acre city-owned dog park. Pacific Marine Mammal Center would be expected to restore the area to its original condition at the expiration of its temporary use permit.

Glenn Gray, chief executive of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, said the project request was a necessary step.

Chief executive Glenn Gray makes comments during a groundbreaking ceremony for Pacific Marine Mammal Center’s expansion.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“We have to actually close our facility about the time that we’re going to open this one because the construction is at that point where the main facility has to be shut down,” Gray said. “We can’t do the major construction and run a marine mammal hospital at the same time, so that’s why we have to vacate for that period of time.

“One might ask, ‘Well, just be closed and come back later,’ but we can’t do that because there’s no predictability on what’s going to happen with marine mammals. … In the last five weeks, we’ve responded to 91 calls.”

Anne Belyea, the executive director of the Laguna Food Pantry, was supportive of the project. She told the council she spoke with the construction project manager and was assured that their morning food distribution operations would not be disrupted by the ongoing activities next door.

Pacific Marine Mammal Center’s expansion project, given the name “The Next Wave,” will be headlined by the installation of a new water reclamation system. The center is second, only to the city itself, among water users in Laguna Beach.

“That equates to about five million gallons of water a year, which 90% of that will be recycled once we’re operating,” Gray said of the impact the water reclamation facility will have.

The expansion will increase Pacific Marine Mammal Center’s number of pools from seven to 10 and raise its patient capacity from 125 to close to 200. There will also be additional space for the center’s animal hospital and educational programs upon completion.

Staff members feed sea lions at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach on March 1.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Along with city approval, plans for the alternate site must also be approved by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Two rows of chain-link fencing — between 9 and 12 feet in height — have been proposed to prevent animal release. The fencing will also include noise-mitigating covers.

City Manager Shohreh Dupuis said multiple sites throughout the city were considered for a temporary facility for the Pacific Marine Mammal Center during its major renovation.

“This ultimately came up through our analysis as the best location for this temporary facility,” Dupuis said. “I also want to really thank the Friends of [Laguna Beach] Dog Park. I worked very closely with them to come up with this alternative, to make sure that we still keep the integrity of the dog park and all the uses while we are helping the Pacific Marine Mammal Center with this project.”