PLANNING COMMISSION STAFF REPORT
March 18, 2026
Agenda Item No. 5.2
Case No: Municipal Code Amendment 2026-0381
Local Coastal Program Amendment 2026-0382
Request An Ordinance amending Title 25 (Zoning), Title 21 (Plats and Subdivisions), and Title 22 (Excavating, Grading, and Filling) of the Municipal Code and Local Coastal Program to streamline the design review and other permit processes.
Project Location: Citywide
Applicant: City of Laguna Beach
Prepared By: Jane Abzug, Assistant City Attorney
(949) 497-0476 | [email protected]
Anthony Viera, Deputy Director of Community Development (949) 497-0398 | [email protected]
CEQA:
The recommended action is exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) under CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 because it consists of the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of existing or former use. Furthermore, under State CEQA Guidelines Section 15265, CEQA does not apply to activities and approvals pursuant to the Coastal Act necessary for the preparation and adoption of a local coastal program (“LCP”) because the Coastal Commission’s LCP review and approval procedures have been found to be functionally equivalent to the environmental review process.
Coastal Zone:
Tiles 21, 22, and 25 of the Municipal Code are components of the City’s certified Local Coastal Program (“LCP”). Amendments to the certified LCP are subject to California Coastal Commission approval. After the local adoption process is completed, the City will submit the ordinance to the Coastal Commission for certification. Further information regarding California Coastal Commission processes can be found at https://www.coastal.ca.gov/lcp/mrfcj/lcp-amendmentprocess.html Attachment 4
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Recommendation:
By motion, adopt a Resolution (Attachment 1) recommending to the City Council adoption of the Ordinance amending the Municipal Code (MC Amendment 2026-0381) and the Local Coastal Program (LCP Amendment 2026-0382), and finding said action exempt from CEQA.
Planning Commissioners
within a 500’ Radius: None
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The processing of development applications in the City of Laguna Beach (“City”) has always been complex, but in recent years, changes in State law, which direct a faster and more objective pathway to approval, as well as poor customer service experiences with the burdensome Zoning Plan Check process, suggest that the City’s plan review process needs improvement. As such, City staff has been evaluating various measures to improve efficiency within the Community Development Department process. As part of this process, City staff has developed a Design Review Efficiency Ordinance (“DR Efficiency Ordinance”). (Attachment 1, Exhibit A.) Before arriving at this version of the DR Efficiency Ordinance, the City held a community workshop on October 1, 2024 to gain feedback on the development of the DR Efficiency Ordinance. City staff then released to the public a cover letter summarizing the DR Efficiency Ordinance changes and the DR Efficiency Ordinance itself for purposes of gathering feedback to incorporate into the ordinance. Then the City Council, the Planning Commission, and the Design Review Board all met in a joint session on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 to discuss a revised version of the DR Efficiency Ordinance, based on feedback from the public. Based on the joint session, City staff presented further revisions to the draft ordinance to the City Council for additional feedback on April 8, 2025, July 22, 2025, and November 18, 2025. Since then, City staff has submitted the draft DR Efficiency Ordinance to California Coastal Commission staff for consideration and feedback. Based on such feedback, City staff made minor changes, as described in more detail below. All feedback received, including feedback provided by members of the public, Coastal Commission staff, Planning Commissioners, Board members, and Councilmembers, has been carefully considered and has led to a revised DR Efficiency Ordinance that is now ready for a public hearing before the Planning Commission. A high-level summary of the DR Efficiency Ordinance and the changes it proposes to make is attached. (Attachment 2.) Staff is now requesting the Planning Commission’s final recommendation to the City Council.
DISCUSSION:
In an attempt to both meet the goals of the City's Housing Element and to address larger concerns about delays and the slow pacing of project approvals, City staff has identified changes to specific parts of the Laguna Beach Municipal Code (“LBMC”) that relate to Community Development Department’s processing of applications. The DR Efficiency Ordinance does four primary things:
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1. Common Practices not yet in the Code.
In some cases, staff has procedures and interpretations that are not clearly outlined in the Zoning Code. This effort attempts to codify these approaches, such as the concept of “Zoning Clearance,” whereby a project that does not require a planning entitlement may be approved by a planner to authorize the next step in the permit process, typically culminating in the issuance of a building permit.
2. Triggers for Design Review.
These changes focus on reducing the level of design review required for various project types.
a. Inverting the Design Review relationship. Today, all development requires design review approval, unless explicitly exempted by the LBMC. The DR Efficiency Ordinance would instead state that Design Review is required only for those projects clearly identified by the LBMC as requiring Design Review.
b. Adding to the Types of Projects that are Exempt from Design Review. These include, but are not limited to:
• Changes that do not constitute a major remodel
• Improvements that do not exceed a height of 16 feet above adjacent ground elevation
• Roof alterations that do not exceed a height of 16 feet above adjacent ground elevation
• Re-roofing of buildings, except for white roofing materials or materials that result in glare
• Annual weed abatement and fuel modification
• Certain hardscape and landscaping improvements
• Swimming pools and spas no more than three feet above adjacent ground elevation
• Mechanical equipment that meet certain noise standards and other requirements
• Above-ground utility structures less than four feet in height when incorporating colors, finishes, and landscaping to minimize visual impact • New primary dwelling units that do not exceed a height of 16 feet and a single story, with greater setbacks than those required by the underlying zone as specified, and otherwise complying with all applicable objective development standards in the Zoning Code
• De Minimis capital improvement projects, as defined.
c. Reducing the Level of Design Review to Administrative Design Review. These changes add to the types of Design Review projects that can be heard by City staff rather than the Design Review Board or Planning Commission. Staff is also proposing to institute a public hearing waiver process where staff will issue public notice to determine if 91 PC Staff Report
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neighbors would like for a hearing to be held on a proposed application. If the noticed neighbors do not respond by requesting a public hearing, the project would be approved without a public hearing. Projects subject to Administrative Design Review would include, but are not limited to the following:
• Certain landscaping
• Decks more than three feet above adjacent ground elevation • Minor alterations to historic resources, provided that such alterations have been reviewed for conformance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring, and Reconstructing Historic Buildings • Mechanical equipment that does not meet certain objective development standards
• Minor capital improvement projects, as defined
The Community Development Director would be authorized to refer Administrative Design Review projects to the Design Review Board or Planning Commission if the Director deems it appropriate.
3. Consolidation of Design Review Criteria.
The 16 design review criteria have been consolidated into the following 11 criteria. These changes help staff operate more efficiently and reduce the potential for mistakes and delays.
1. Access
2. Design Articulation
3. Environmental Context
4. General Plan Compliance
5. Historic Preservation
6. Landscaping
7. Lighting and Glare
8. Neighborhood Compatibility
9. Pedestrian Orientation
10. Privacy
11. View Equity
4. Other and Miscellaneous Changes.
In some cases, the City's processes can add to inefficiencies that slow project considerations. In other cases, design review criteria appear in multiple sections of the LBMC within neighborhood reference sections (where they are arguably not needed). These changes would remove duplicative language that is redundant to the design review criteria and would also re-word certain development standards and other key code provisions for 92 PC Staff Report
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clarity to improve consistency in how planning staff and design professionals are interpreting and applying requirements to projects.
5. Public Works Projects.
As staff, we have great respect for the role of the Planning Commission in guiding effective and attractive Public Works projects. But aspects of the review are not working as well as they could, and with labor and materials costs significantly increasing in the recent past (all indications are that this will continue), any delay or longer-term review process causes a project's budget to often be significantly below the final bid costs. As such, staff proposes the following changes:
Item
Proposed
What Code
Says Now
Exempt
from
DR
Admin
DR
DRB,
PC, or
CC
City of Laguna Beach Public Works
Projects/ CIP Items
De Minimus. Fuel modification project or
program; (i) emergency projects; (ii)
roadway or trail improvements within
existing rights-of-way; (iii) pipeline, such as
storm drain and sewer, installation, repair
and maintenance; minor alterations to
utilities; (iv) alterations and repairs to
parking lots; (v) small habitat restoration
projects as defined in Section 15333 of the
CEQA Guidelines; (vi) sign replacements in
the same size with similar materials, at the
determination of the Community
Development Director; (vii) in kind
replacement of improvements for repair
and maintenance; (viii) similar projects as
determined by the Community
Development Director in consultation with
other affected department heads.
X
Admin DR
for repair
and
maintenance
Minor. (i) alterations to existing facilities
resulting in exterior changes; (ii) roadway or
trail extensions within existing rights-ofway; (iii) replacement or renovation of damaged facilities or structures resulting in
exterior design changes; (iv) small
X PC
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additions to existing structures resulting in
exterior changes); (v) construction or
demolition of small structures resulting in
site or building design changes; (vi) slope
and wall repair for public infrastructure.
Major. New or substantial alterations to
parks, public buildings, community
facilities, reservoirs, or bridges; (ii) new or
substantial alterations to drainage
structures which involve significant
changes to grades, hillsides, habitats, or
views; (iii) street improvements which
involve substantial expansion of right-ofway, removal or existing facilities, removal of significant vegetation (unless part of a
fuel modification project or program)
and/or major changes to community
character.
PC PC
Changes Based on Coastal Commission Staff Comments:
Coastal Commission made some typographical proposed changes, including recommending the following:
• City specify that lighting plan requirements are for exterior lighting plans • City exempt roof alterations that are 16 feet in height or greater and exempt roof alterations that are less than 16 feet in height.
• City specify measuring height from the “existing legal grade” adjacent ground elevation. • Limiting landscaping to the height of the above-ground utility structures in the exemption from design review for above-ground utility structures. • Modify the type of de minimis capital improvement project to “in kind replacement of improvements for repair and maintenance” rather than “repair and maintenance activities to public facilities”
• Specify that a coastal development permit may still be required when a project is exempt from design review or subject to zone clearance permit. • Specify that for appeals of decisions of the Community Development Director to the Planning Commission / Design Review Board, neither the PC nor DRB can remand back to the Community Development Director.
• Repeal Section 25.39.100 of Chapter 25.29 (Specific Plan (Sarah Thurston Park) of Title 25 as consisting of duplicative design review criteria.
• Remove the provisions that would have repealed and replaced the City’s existing SB 9 ordinance to address the changes in the law brought by SB 450. Coastal Commission staff indicated that it needed more time to review the SB 9/SB 450 provisions. 94 PC Staff Report
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City staff also made the following additional changes:
• Modified provisions relating to luminous tube signs to make regulations of such signs internally consistent;
• Broadened the scope of signs, façade changes, and sign programs for Arts Organizations from Arts Organizations to Arts and Cultural Organizations.
Next Steps
Adopting the attached resolution (Attachment 1) recommending adoption of the proposed ordinance will facilitate the City Council’s review and potential adoption of the DR Efficiency Ordinance. The City Council will also be asked to adopt a resolution amending the Design Guidelines – A Guide to Residential Development, removing the design review criteria that will be struck from the Municipal Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
The recommended action is exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act under CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 because it consists of the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of existing or former use.
Here, the recommended action meets the exemption because it involves processing of ordinances that are affecting the organization and procedures within the City and modifications to some standards for existing uses that will not result in an expansion of the existing use. Upon taking the recommended action, City staff will file within five calendar days a notice of exemption with the County and State Clearinghouse. Furthermore, under State CEQA Guidelines Section 15265, CEQA does not apply to activities and approvals pursuant to the Coastal Act necessary for the preparation and adoption of a local coastal program because the Coastal Commission’s LCP review and approval procedures have been found to be functionally equivalent to the environmental review process. Therefore, the adoption of the Ordinance amending the City’s local coastal program is statutorily exempt from CEQA.
RECOMMENDATION:
By motion, adopt a Resolution (Attachment 1) recommending to the City Council adoption of the Ordinance amending the Municipal Code (MC Amendment 2026-0381) and the Local Coastal Program (LCP Amendment 2026-0382), and finding said action exempt from CEQA.
NOTIFICATION:
Pursuant to Title 25 (Zoning) Public Notice, a public hearing notice was published in a newspaper of general circulation on February 27, 2026 in accordance with LBMC Section 25.05.065(F) and sent by mail to surrounding public agencies, the California Coastal Commission, and others who have requested notification.
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ATTACHMENT(S):
Attachment 1 – Resolution No. 26-0381, including Ordinance as Exhibit A Attachment 2 – Chart of DR Efficiency Ordinance Changes 96