CITYSCAPE ROUNDUP: Help at Coastal Cleanup Day

Local beaches will get a much-needed sprucing-up Saturday morning after the busy summer season. The 23rd annual California Coastal Cleanup Day will be from 9 a.m. to noon on five beaches in Laguna Beach.

All the sites will provide bags, gloves, tide pool brochures, and other educational literature. The event is organized locally by the Clean Water Now Coalition, and statewide by the California Coastal Commission.

Volunteers are needed to pick up and bag trash at:

 Crescent Bay

 Main Beach

 Oak Street beach

 Treasure Island (below the Montage Resort & Spa)

 Lower Aliso Creek beach.

A very high tide will peak at 11:30 a.m., so early-bird participation is encouraged.

For more information, call Roger Butow of Clean Water Now at (949) 280-2225, or visit www.cleanwaternow.com or www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced

Boom calendar contest winners named

The top choices of judges in the Men of Laguna Beach 2008 calendar contest are: Caleb King, first place; Gustavo Marzolla, second place; and five tied for third place honors: Russell Mason, Chris Dezinno, Ray Cook, Russell Brodmerkle and Ryan Liddell.

King will be presented the grand prize of $1,000 on Saturday in Laguna Beach and will be featured on the cover of the calendar. All runners up will be mailed their checks this week. The 2nd-place winner receives $250, and 3rd-place winners will each receive $100.

The contest, featuring gay or straight men who live or work in Laguna Beach, was organized by Fred Karger, found of Save the Boom, dedicated to keeping the Boom Boom Room gay bar open in Laguna Beach. The bar closed Sept. 3.

For more information, visit www.savetheboom.com

Wastewater agency gets national honor

South Orange County Wastewater Authority has been honored by the National Assn. of Clean Water Agencies with its most prestigious honor, the Platinum Peak Performance Award, given to only a few other wastewater agencies nationwide. The award recognized the Authority’s five-year record of 100% environmental compliance at its Aliso Creek Outfall.

The outfall, offshore from Aliso Beach, transports treated wastewater from four treatment plants that serve residents of Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills and Lake Forest.

Each day, approximately 16 million gallons of treated wastewater are discharged via the Aliso Creek Outfall pipeline, which reaches nearly 1.5 miles out into the Pacific Ocean, ending about 200 feet below the ocean’s surface.

“At SOCWA, we know that the work we do is tremendously important in terms of beach water quality and marine health,” said Tom Rosales, general manager for the Wastewater Authority. “It is performance like this that helped Laguna’s beaches be recognized last month by the Natural Resources Defense Council as some of the best in the nation because they rarely violate state bacteria standards.”

Only 15 agencies throughout the United States received the Platinum Peak Performance award, and South Orange County Wastewater was one of only two wastewater districts recognized with more than one treatment plant, according to a press statement.

For more information about South Orange County Wastwater Authority and the Peak Performance award, visit www.SOCWA.com and www.NACWA.org.

Clinic receives $15,000 Challenge Grant

Hearts of Montage, an employee charity at the Montage Laguna Beach, has awarded a $15,000 Challenge Grant to the Laguna Beach Community Clinic. Under the terms of the grant, every private gift to the clinic from individuals, family foundations, estate and corporate grants will be matched on a 1:1 ratio until the award amount is reached. Funds will be used to help the Clinic’s Urgent Care Program.

Hearts of Montage is a volunteer outreach group founded and led by the employees of Montage Laguna Beach.

“Laguna Beach Community Clinic feels honored to have been selected for this grant,” said Dr. Thomas C. Bent, Medical Director. “Our service to this community is dependent upon gifts like this from the employees of Montage Laguna Beach and is especially meaningful to those of us at LBCC.”

Laguna Beach Community Clinic is is open six days a week, helping approximately 600 patients each month. For more information about this gift or to contribute toward the goal, contact Shirley Lorenz in the Development Office at (949) 494-0761, ext 134 or go to www.lbclinic.org.

Landslide-affected parcels to become garden plots

Two landslide-affected parcels owned by the City of Laguna Beach will become gardens under an agreement approved Sept. 4 by the Laguna Beach City Council.

The council authorized the city manager to execute 10-year lease agreements with property owners adjacent to the city-owned parcels at 515 and 517 Canyon Acres Drive upon receipt of $1,000 payments and to increase the city’s revenue projection by $2,000.

A home on the parcels was destroyed in 1998 by a landslide. The city bought the parcels in 2000 using Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, subject to a condition that the properties would remain open space.

The adjacent property owners propose to use the parcels for gardens, which would relieve the city of maintenance and liability.

Both parcels are zoned for single-family residences and the proposed use is consistent with the zone. No other public uses of the properties seem to be suitable for the neighborhood or consistent with the FEMA restrictions, according to city staff.

Either party can terminate the $100-a-year leases with a 90-day notice.

— Barbara Diamond