Laguna Beach city officials are seeking to regain control of South Laguna Beaches after they were claimed by Orange County 35 years ago. Locals believe the beaches to have been disregarded under this authority.
In an interview with the OC Register, Laguna Beach Assistant City Manager Ken Domer said that the biggest benefit of regaining control of the beaches is the ability to enforce municipal codes. A chief complaint among residents is that officials have not addressed the cigarette and single-use plastic litter polluting the coastline. New authorities plan to strictly enforce the current non-smoking ban throughout the city.
Laguna beach is popular among tourists due to its picturesque views, coves, and wildlife. However, many residents have complained about the negative impact on their quality of life which is a direct result of the beaches’ popularity, such as cliff diving, trespassing, public urination, and parking violations.
When presenting to the city council, Marine Safety Chief Kevin Snow informed the panel that two dozen more part-time lifeguards would need to be deployed due to the expansion of the coastline officials are responsible for.
“The contract lifeguards with the county basically are looking eyes on the water all the time, whereas our lifeguards are city employees,” Domer said in an interview with the LA Times. “They’re looking at not just the water,doing an exemplary job, but also at the quality-of-life issues that occur on the beach around them.”
Vice Chair of the Laguna Ocean Foundation Ed Almanza expressed that the organization is content with the potential transfer.
“We think that our guards, our lifeguards are such an asset,” Almanza said, “Why wouldn’t we deploy them down there? Our guards would improve public safety, would improve marine protection. I think our marine protection function would be more active down there.”
The proposal would grant Laguna Beach officials management of Aliso Beach, Camel Point Beach, Laguna Royale Beach, Table Rock Beach, Thousand Steps Beach, and West Street Beach, as well as Aliso Beach County Park — adding 11,000 feet of the coastline to their existing responsibility of 16,000 feet.
City officials reported the projected cost of the transfer to be approximately $2.2 million each year in addition to a start-up cost of $1 million. The proposal is not currently on the agenda for the supervisors’ meeting on Oct. 4.
“I think it’s just going to be a real benefit to our community long term, a real benefit to people in South Laguna [and offer] better enforcement operations,” Mayor Pro Tem Bob Whalen said in an interview with the LA Times regarding the proposal.
Alexia Diane Hawley is a City News Staff Writer. She can be reached at adhawley@uci.edu.
