Ceanothus to forgo full-time monitor

Monitoring — “aggressive” but not full-time — has been ordered for the construction of four homes on Ceanothus Drive in South Laguna. Neighbors say the construction has disrupted their lives for 10 months.

The order, which fell short of what the neighbors wanted, was part of the “Ceanothus Construction Protocol,” recommended by city staff and approved Tuesday with some refinements by the Laguna Beach City Council.

“I am disappointed in the staff recommendations,” said Pamela Middlebrook, who submitted a prototype protocol to the council at the April 3 meeting. “It looks like they are recommending the status quo.”

Middlebrook asked the council to restore a full-time, on-site city paid monitor, missing since grading ended; to impose sanctions to deter parking violations; prohibit vehicles at the site until 7:30 a.m., with no idling on neighborhood streets; require site rules to be printed in English and Spanish and posted on the site, along with names and contact numbers of the developers and contractors, with the developer taking responsibility for workers’ conduct; and to post changes in work schedule 48 hours in advance.

Development director John Montgomery said some of the requests had been implemented or were in the works since the proposed protocol was submitted and was being monitored — but not full-time.

“There has been no noticeable improvement in the last two weeks,” resident Jim Kosik said. “Without a monitor [on-site], you are asking the fox to monitor the chicken coop.”

City building inspector Doug Miller has made periodic checks of the site and worker parking, which is restricted to Coast Highway or West Street, Montgomery said. Workers must either walk or carpool to the site, according to the protocol.

“Staff feels that we have the enforcement mechanism to force compliance of this rule by ‘red-tagging’ the job site [issuing a stop work order] and stopping construction,” Montgomery reported.

“I have been there myself and they seem to be complying. We did have to red tag one site for one day.”

Red-tagging shows the contractors that the city is serious, Montgomery said.

“Compliance will follow,” he said.

Cement trucks were exempted from the “no idling” restriction because the concrete must continue to churn, Montgomery said.

Notification to neighbors 48 hours before a change in construction schedule or type of work, as requested by Middlebrook, was not feasible, Montgomery said, because the projects are varied and individually owned.

For the same reason, violation of the protocol or city laws on one site will not close down construction on the others.

“Doug Miller has the authority to shut down the projects and he is one of our most aggressive inspectors,” City Manager Ken Frank said.

As for complaints about littering and trash on the site and in the street, Frank said he had not seen evidence of that in his three visits to the site in the past two weeks. One problem he said he did see was illegal construction by a neighbor.

Frank urged the council members to visit the site.

A request to restore David Harris as on-site monitor was not recommended by the staff. Harris, who was popular with the neighbors and effective, they said, was hired by the city during the eight-month grading phase for all four sites at a cost of $33,462. His expertise does not include construction, Frank said.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Schneider was outraged that the city picked up the tab for Harris’s services.

“Why aren’t the four property owners paying for it,” she said. “We shouldn’t be in the monitoring business. It shouldn’t come out of the taxpayers’ pockets.”

Schneider and Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman said they were under the impression that Harris’s wages, paid by the city, would be reimbursed by the lot owners.

“That should be a condition of approval in projects,” Kinsman said.

Kinsman also suggested that the staff look into the revocation of the building permits for the four sites if problems persist.

Montgomery will fashion a condition requiring a site monitor that could become a routine component of approvals in the future — not effective for this project, but a legacy born out of the frustration of the Ceanothus neighbors.

“Those neighbors should consider themselves lucky that the work is all being done at one time, instead of over the next 10 or 12 years,” said Liza Stewart, who owns a landscaping business and property in Bluebird Canyon.

“We went to Diamond Crestview to look at a prospective landscaping job and you should have seen the dirty looks we got. What’s happening to everybody?

“I have a lot of sympathy for people who live near construction, but if you buy property near an open lot, you have to expect building.

“Sometimes contractors get off on the wrong foot with the neighbors, but they should try to work it out.”

Middlebrook, who said she had no faith in the protocol recommended by the staff, agreed to report back on its effectiveness at the May 15 council meeting.