Cottage demolition approved
The City Council agreed Tuesday to permit the demolition of a derelict cottage, overturning a Design Review Board denial and outraging some South Laguna residents.
The council split 3-2, clearing the way for the cottage demolition at 31762 Coast Highway.
South Coast Water District officials claimed the demolition was essential as part of its planned five-year, $50-million project to stabilize a sewer tunnel and pipeline replacement.
It was the third demolition permit for structures on the city’s historic inventory that has been opposed in recent months by South Laguna residents.
“I am aware of the necessity of the tunnel project, but I am also aware of the impacts for five years,” said Mary Ives. “We are just asking for one small piece of mitigation.
“Replacing the cottage with Porta-potties or anything else will downgrade the area.”
Ives compared the proposed restoration to the rebuilt Crystal Cove cottages on the state-owned park.
“I don’t want to say how many cottages we have tried to save at the request of people, and every time we hear how we have to save some cottage, it is always at someone else’s money,” said Councilman Kelly Boyd, who voted with Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson and Mayor Jane Egly in favor of the permit.
District Director of Operations Joe McDivitt said he sympathized with the desire to save the cottage, but the project needs the entire lot.
The lot will give access to the tunnel rehabilitation project, which provides sewer service to thousands of South County residents, not to mention tourists, McDivitt said. A 100-foot deep shaft, 20 feet in diameter, will be dug on the lot to get to the main project.
“Our construction experts tell us we need the whole lot,” McDivitt said.
Pearson said the bottom line is that old infrastructure has to be replaced.
“But please do what you can to make life easier for the neighbors,” she told district representatives.
Rancor was expressed by South Laguna residents, who are already riled by the demolition of the cottage called “Stonehenge, and the demolition of parts of Hangover House, once owned by travel writer Richard Halliburton. All three are in South Laguna.
“Elizabeth talks about preservation, but she always votes against it,” said South Laguna resident Richard Picheny.
Tuesday’s hearing was the second time the council reversed a board decision regarding the demolition requested by the water district.
In October of 2011, the council overturned the Design Review Board’s approval of a partial demolition of the cottage, basing its decision on a resource assessment and environmental impact report that the structure was not historically significant, backed by an independent peer review.
Subsequently, the California Coastal Commission staff opined that a coastal development permit should be processed with any stand-along demolition permit.
The demolition application was returned to the board, which in April voted 3-2 to deny the request, with the majority stating they could not make the required legal findings for approval.
South Coast again appealed, based on the council’s previous approval and what water district officials considered the board’s wrongminded focus on the historical significance of the structure, which a council majority had already determined to be nonexistent.
“That building has been there for almost 40 years, empty with nothing but weeds in the yard,” Mayor Jane Egly said. “I don’t understand why all of a sudden we have to save it.”
Proponents said a restored cottage could be used as a construction office and would also provide bathroom facilities for workers, preferable to portable toilets on such a visible site, and would give neighbors something to look forward to during the five long years of construction.
“That cottage is a small gesture to be made,” said Councilwoman Toni Iseman, who voted with Mayor Pro Tem Verna Rollinger against the coastal development permit that allows the demolition to take place.
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