Developer of artist work/live project gets more time to secure permit

The Laguna Beach City Council granted a Laguna Beach sculptor more time this week as he tries to obtain a coastal development permit to construct an artist work/live facility in Laguna Canyon that the council approved more than two years ago.

The council, in a 4-1 vote Tuesday, gave Louis Longi until April 1, 2018, to get the necessary permit for the controversial 30-unit project, which is undergoing a legal challenge. Mayor Pro Tem Toni Iseman dissented.

Canyon resident Richard Sherman appealed the Planning Commission’s March decision to grant Longi his extension. Sherman claimed the project had undergone changes since the council’s original approval in April 2014, including the California Coastal Commission’s request that several of the units’ balconies be removed. He also cited a Coastal Commission biologist’s determination that Laguna Canyon Creek, which borders the property, had significant environmental worth, an opinion that conflicted with that from a city-hired biologist.

A group of residents appealed the council’s 2014 decision to the Coastal Commission, alleging the 0.84-acre project at 20412 and 20432 Laguna Canyon Road would be out of context with the canyon’s development plan, which emphasizes small scale and rural developments. They were also concerned about environmental impacts to the creek.

In January 2015, the commission unanimously approved the project, but required Longi, among other conditions, to submit a habitat restoration plan for the creek.

In its vote Tuesday, the council determined that zoning rules and surrounding neighborhood character had not changed since the project was approved at the city level.

In March 2015, the same group of canyon residents filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against the Coastal Commission.

According to the complaint, they claimed they will suffer “irreparable harm because of significant adverse impacts on coastal resources,” and that the project has not been properly analyzed under the state’s Coastal Act and Environmental Quality Act.

A hearing was scheduled Thursday, but was postponed because the former judge retired, Longi said.