Council approves buying cottage beams

The City Council will continue to prop up three cottages moved from Third Street and stored in Laguna Canyon—and pay $8,400 to do it.

Younger Brothers House Moving, owners of the beams and cribbing that have supported the cottages since they were moved to the canyon site in 2007, asked to be paid for their property or have it returned. The purchase was approved Tuesday, without comment from the council or the public.

City staff recommended buying the beams and cribbing, using funds left over from the purchase of furniture and materials for the Community Center.

The structures were moved to Laguna Canyon from Third Street to clear the way for the Susi Q and the Community Center to mollify residents who opposed their demolition.

None of the three cottages are rated E for exceptional, the highest rating for historical structures. One has K for Key rating, meaning it demonstrates an architectural style or time period and is mostly in its original condition. The other two cottages are rated C for the contribution to the overall historic character of a neighborhood, deemed important to the streetscape of Laguna.

The street on which the cottages stood and the neighborhood underwent a dramatic change when the centers were built.

Although several people expressed interest in moving the three cottages to private properties in town in 2007, no proposals materialized, until 2009.

Paul Gonzalez proposed moving the cottages to an adjacent property for a development he is working on, but his submittal was incomplete and he is working on a revision, according to Susan Cannan, director of Community services.