OUR LAGUNA: SUPER project topic of dinner

Fifth District Supervisor Pat Bates was forced to cancel as the guest speaker at the Laguna Canyon Conservancy Dinner meeting Monday night at Tivoli Terrace.

“She sends her regrets — she is ill,” said Bates staffer Eileen Takata. “But she wants you to know that she cares about issues that are important to this group.”

Bates’ appearance will be rescheduled.

Marianne Skorpanich, Orange County director of watershed and coastal resources, pinch hit for Bates. Skropanich reviewed the proposed stabilization, utility protection and environmental restoration of Aliso Creek, known as the SUPER Project, and its history.

Many in the audience, including Councilwoman Elizabeth Schneider, an early and strong supporter of the project, were already knowledgeable about the Project. They wanted to know the county’s position on the diversion project devised by Michael Beanan for South Coast Water District.

Skorpanich said diversion is one of the tools in the county’s tool box, but it’s the cash box that will tell the tale.

“South Coast has asked for the supervisor’s support,” Skorpanich said. “It depends on next year’s budget.

“We think it is a good project, and South Coast is moving forward whether the county supports it or not.”

However, diversion is a means to control ocean and beach pollution, which is not the primary purpose of the SUPER Project, which is to lessen the steep creek banks and reestablish an eco-system that has badly deteriorated over the years, partly, if not mainly due to urban runoff.

“We have an extensive public education and outreach program that was mandated by the [San Diego] Regional Water Quality Board,” Skorpanich said. “People are just not aware that so much pollution comes from everyday behavior. They don’t understand the impact of using pesticides in their yards or washing their cars in the driveway.”

But Skorpanich sees the erosion as the creek’s primary problem that must be dealt with in a sensitive manner that is compatible with its location.

The tentative plan is to install small stabilizing structures no higher than two feet.

“We are looking to design this to look as natural as possible,” Skorpanich said.

That means no concrete channeling of the creek flow.

“We don’t find that compatible with a wilderness park,” Skorpanich said.

The public will be invited to participate in the planning. A scoping session will be held next year.

Whatever plan is implemented, it will be designed by the Army Corps of Engineers, which means big bucks from the federal government, according to Skorpanich.

The project is estimated to cost $45 million, with 25% of that coming from local sources.

Charlotte Masarik said the Super Project is years away from being online and asked about the project schedule.

“We hope the design will be finished in two years,” Skorpanich said. “So far we just have a concept.”

Among those who attended the dinner: Michelle and Councilman Kelly Boyd, “Andy” and City Clerk Martha Anderson, Ginger and former Mayor Neil Fitzpatrick, Joan and former Public Works Director Terry Brandt, former Mayor Ann Christoph, former City Clerk Verna Rollinger, Dea and Karl Koski, Anne and Dick Frank, Athens Group spokeswoman Joan Gladstone, Ed Rollinger, Bobbi Cox, and conservancy President Carolyn Wood.

Tarnished treasure trove

Rain couldn’t dim the luster of the Tarnished Treasures Luncheon fundraiser Friday at the Laguna Beach Woman’s Club.

The luncheon included live and silent auctions and opportunity prizes.

“We netted close to $3,000, our biggest ever,” said event co-chairwoman Gayle Waite, who donated a prize as well as her time.

Proceeds benefit club renovation and resource programs.

“I want to thank everyone who contributed,” said co-chairwoman Anita Mangels.

The Neighborhood Congregational Church contributed about eight boxes of unsold items from its annual Bargain Festival in August.

Donors to the silent auction included Mangels, Bree Burgess Rosen of No Square Theatre, Todd Nelson of Cent Gallery, the Festival of Arts in a package deal with Café Zulu, Jon Madison of Madison Square Café and Garden, Dinah Lee of the Gallery of Wearable Art, Dennis Junka, Michelle Boyd, Iris Adam, Faye Chapman, Duet, Eva’s Caribbean Kitchen, Ruby’s, Picayo, The Cottage and Disneyland.

Past club President Veronica Nice put in the high bid for the all-day passes to Disneyland as a present for her nieces and nephews.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Schneider, past club President Kim Salter and club member Bev Hines donated to the auction and to the opportunity prizes The Sawdust Winter Fantasy donated tickets and a sweatshirt to the prizes, won by Liza Stewart.

Jan Barbieri, Terri Johnson, Skipper Lynn, Pauline Walpin, Karen Polek and Lee all won prizes. Louise Buckley won twice. Winner Mangels chose a gift certificate to Ruby’s, but donated it back and Birgitta Schoen’s number was pulled.

“This is our favorite function of the year,” club President Lee Winocur Field said.

Committee members included Winocur Field, Planning Commissioner Anne Johnson, Nadine Nordstrom, Karin Godfrey, Anne Wood and former Mayor Kathleen Blackburn. Stefany Skenderian and Nice also helped.

Among those who attended,: City Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman, Councilwoman Schneider, City Clerk Martha Anderson, Laguna Beach County Water District General Manager Renae Hinchey, Planning Commissioner Linda Dietrich, Marion Jacobs, Ann Quilter, and Dr. Elizabeth Lyster, Helen Simpson, Wendy Allen, Kate Mullins and Kate Tschudin from the South Coast Medical Center Foundation.

Leftovers from Tarnished Treasures will brighten the holidays for low-income families in town.

The club’s annual holiday party for the families will be Dec. 14. Donations of “gently used” items are needed. New would be OK, too.

On the club’s wish list: clean clothing for men, women and children, household items such as dishes, glasses, pots, pans and tableware; linens, sheets, towels, blankets; toys and children’s books — in fact, practically anything as long as it is neither heavy or bulky.

Donations may be delivered to the clubhouse at 286 St. Ann’s Drive between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. .

For more information, call (949) 499-5518.

OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, 92652; hand-deliver to Suite 22 in the Lumberyard, 384 Forest Ave.; call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949) 494-8979.