Skateboard meeting at Thurston

A proposal to restrict skateboarding and roller-skating on the city’s streets will be considered by the Parking, Traffic and Circulation Committee at a 7 p.m. Thursday meeting in the gymnasium at Thurston Middle School, 2100 Park Ave. The time and location was selected to accommodate an expected large number of attendees. Other items on the agenda not related to this issue will be considered at 6 p.m. The agenda is posted at https://www.lagunabeachcity.net/cityhall/pw/ptc.asp.

The committee acts in an advisory capacity to the City Council and public comments will be considered before a final recommendation is forwarded to the council. Comments and questions may be directed to Liz Vazquez-Avila at (949) 497-0344 or lavila@lagunabeachcity.net.

Water rates won’t rise but alert still in effect

Water rates won’t go up for ratepayers serviced by South Coast Water District. The district board voted July 8 to keep customer rates the same as last year. Rates were scheduled to increase July 1, largely in response to anticipated rate increases by Metropolitan Water District; however, wholesale water rates rose less than expected, according to district spokeswoman Linda Homscheid.

The district will maintain last year’s water and sewer rates through the end of this fiscal year, June 30. However, supplies of water from MWD allocated to the district dropped 12.7% in July 2009 and have not been restored. Despite snowfall in the Sierras and local rain, many reservoirs are below capacity, due to drought, population growth and pumping restrictions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Homscheid said.

As a result, the district remains in a Water Supply Alert. Mandatory conservation measures, such as limits on sprinkler use, are still in effect within the service area, from Nyes Place to the southern city limits. These requirements are posted at https://www.scwd.org.

Traffic alerts available

Laguna Beach residents and travelers can now find out about traffic conditions via e-mail. The city of Laguna Beach is trying out a new service to inform the community via e-mail when there are significant traffic delays on highways or heavily traveled streets due to accidents or major construction projects, City Manager Ken Frank announced in his Friday Update of July 9. To access the service, go to https://www.lagunabeachcity.net/services/traffic_alerts.asp and enter your e-mail address. Users can also decide to stop receiving the messages at any time by logging in and opting out of the service.

Thrift Shop holds closing sale

The Assistance League Laguna Beach will hold its annual end of the season sale at its Turnabout Thrift Shop, 526 Glenneyre St., Tuesday through July 24. The shop closes Aug. 1 and will reopen Sept. 7.