Museum talks up relocation to Entrance

More information about a proposal to move the Laguna Art Museum to the Village Entrance was revealed Monday, but architectural plans were not unveiled as expected.

An audience of about 75 community members had to settle for a verbal description of the controversial proposal, which includes the construction of 34 townhouses on top of a redesigned public parking structure.

“I am going to tell you up front that you are going to be disappointed,” museum director Bolton Colburn said. “We don’t have any architectural plans, but we are concerned to hear what you think.”

Colburn sketched in words what he could not provide in pictures.

“We are here to share our concept with what I call the corporate [corporation] yard,” said Colburn.

The museum’s plan for the Village Entrance would add a 29,000-square-foot museum, a 5,000-square-foot auditorium and the townhouses, which would require digging the parking structure into the ground at the base of the hill at the back of the city-owned site, a way of avoiding exceeding the 36-foot height limit reserved for public-use buildings in the Civic Arts District, of which the Village Entrance is a part.

“How can townhouses be construed as public use?” Heritage Committee member Bonnie Hano asked. Colburn said that they could be if their sale helps fund something used by the public.

“That’s a reach,” Planning Commissioner Norm Grossman said.

The sale of the proposed townhouses ? at an estimated $1.5 million each ? would account for a major portion of the funding for the entire Village Entrance, erasing the city’s financial obligation, Colburn said. Funds could also be realized from the sale of the current museum site and from a partnership the museum hopes to make with a developer, Colburn said.

“My feeling is if it is privately developed, we will have the first cars parking there [sooner] than if we wait for the city to do it,” said bookstore owner Tom Ahern. “I would like to see it done before the year 2020.”

Museum officials want their proposal added to the three alternatives already proposed for the draft environmental report on the project. The comment period ? twice extended since rumors of the museum’s proposal surfaced at a meeting for the Village Entrance project in March ? is due to end May 5.

The sticking point for many residents is the proposal for the town homes, seemingly at odds with the concept of a Civic Arts District, meant to brand the city as an arts center.

“I voted to add the museum proposal to the EIR [environmental impact report], but I am still undecided about the town house project,” museum board member Johanna Felder said.

Audience reaction to the museum presentation Tuesday was decidedly mixed.

“This is a dreadful idea,” said Arnold Hano.

Hano’s position was countered by Scott Sebastian, who said, “This is a great idea.” Both were applauded.

Public input was one of the museum’s prime reasons for the open house.

“Written comments would be really valuable, and we will take notes on verbal comments,” Colburn said.

He cited several reasons for the relocation. Last renovated in 1986, museum maintenance has been minimal, Colburn said, pointing to a hole in the ceiling of the main gallery. And even if the property had been kept up, the museum has outgrown the space. The building is too small, too dilapidated and has no parking, according to Colburn.

“We have 5,000 pieces of art,” Colburn said. “That is the largest collection of any museum exclusively devoted to California art.”

Exhibitions have been well received, but lenders might think twice, Colburn said, if they realized their art would be shown in galleries that also are used for events and meetings like Monday’s.

“We’ve run out of space and we can’t grow into our mission,” Colburn said. “We hope if you like what you see tonight, you will contact the council and tell them you like it.”

The problem for many in audience was what they didn’t see.

“I feel really uncomfortable,” said former Arts Commissioner Leah Vasquez. “As an artist, I need to see visuals. This is a disadvantage to all of us.”

Colburn said more open houses will be scheduled, at dates to be announced. When available, the plans will be posted on the museum’s website, www.lagunaartmuseum.org.

However, to accommodate the museum, the preparation of the draft environmental report would have to be delayed.

“So what are a few months ? I’ve waited 20 years for this,” No Square Theatre founder Bree Burgess Rosen said.

Former Planning Commissioner Becky Jones said a more appropriate process would be to issue a new notice of preparation for the environmental report and add the museum plan to the three alternatives already proposed.

Grossman said the approved notice of preparation defines the project as a linear park and a five-level parking structure with up to 670 spaces, which could be interpreted as restricting alternatives to those listed.

“I don’t want to see this process slowed down, but I don’t think three to six weeks would make a difference,” Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said. “We have three alternatives, a park with a garage with either 670 spaces or 580 spaces or no project.”

Pearson-Schneider said she and Councilwoman Toni Iseman have a funding proposal. Their collaboration led to the agreement on relocation of the maintenance yard to the Act V lot, unblocking a decades-old logjam and creating a plan for the Village Entrance.

“Toni and I want to have a revenue bond to pay for the park and the parking structure,” Pearson-Schneider said.

Jones suggested the museum look at the Festival Center ? a retail complex next to the Sawdust Festival site ? as a prospective location. The center may be up for sale, city officials said.

“The Village Entrance is an extremely constrained site,” Jones said. “I would hate to see you spend a chunk of money on a terrific design and then find out it can’t be done.”