CA Laguna Beach Independent 6/6/26, 1:23 PM
https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/prod…fault.aspx?pubname=&pubid=bd9cdd70-3779-4e10-b577-01f5cade836d Page 1 of 3 Laguna Canyon Still at a Crossroads
OPINION: FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
BY MARY LOCATELLI
The City Manager continued his welcomed efforts at informing residents about key City issues. This time it was in the form of a Town Hall related to Laguna Canyon Road, and the potential relinquishment of the road from Cal Trans to the City. Essentially, Cal Trans is offering to turn over ownership and responsibility for the road to the City, along with a one-time payment of $14.4 million. This offer has been on the table for some time and expires at the end of June. If the City were to accept the offer, there would be more work to be done on both sides, with the City having an option to walk away at any time through June 2029.
The main reason the City was entertaining this offer in the first place, was its desire to underground the utilities in the canyon. The City has concluded that the only possibility for undergrounding the utilities is to put them under the roadway, which Cal Trans will not allow as long as it owns the road. Cal Trans’ reasoning is that it believes the City has other options to underground in the space adjacent to the road. The City believes otherwise.
MARY LOCATELLI
CA Laguna Beach Independent 6/6/26, 1:23 PM
https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/prod…fault.aspx?pubname=&pubid=bd9cdd70-3779-4e10-b577-01f5cade836d Page 2 of 3 The City was hoping that Southern California Edison would receive a rate increase to assist with undergrounding projects in places like the canyon. That did not happen. As the City had no other source of revenue to proceed with an undergrounding project, it had put the relinquishment offer on hold.
However, about a month ago, the City was approached by SCE. SCE has reprioritized funds available for undergrounding and has now allocated an estimated $50 million for Laguna Canyon Road. Included would be undergrounding the distribution lines, covering the transmission lines and hardening the transmission poles. The City would be responsible for undergrounding the communication lines, which it thinks it could do for about $3.5 million. SCE stated that its offer would be good through 2028.
If it sounds like there are a lot of moving parts, that’s because there are.
On the one hand, it sounds like SCE has offered to underground the canyon at no cost to the City (other than for the communication lines).
But is the plan really cost free? Residents were quick to point out that by coupling the SCE undergrounding offer with ownership of the road, the City will be saddled with ongoing costs in perpetuity. Many believe the City has not sufficiently explored the ability, or negotiated to obtain the rights, to underground in the spaces adjacent to the roadway. If that could be done, it would still allow the City to make use of SCE’s undergrounding offer, without having to assume the ongoing ownership costs of the road—a win/win all around.
And what are those ongoing costs? Essentially, there are two components; repairs and maintenance and liability costs. As a reminder, the City Manager has cautioned Council to avoid adding new and ongoing programs that are not supported by revenues and may not be sustainable.
With respect to repairs and maintenance, the City did not present its estimate during the meeting (although it did say an estimate will be included in the upcoming staff report). One resident pointed out that while it may be true that the canyon would represent only 3% of the total linear miles of City roads, that could be misleading. As one of the CA Laguna Beach Independent 6/6/26, 1:23 PM
https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/prod…fault.aspx?pubname=&pubid=bd9cdd70-3779-4e10-b577-01f5cade836d Page 3 of 3 City’s major thoroughfares, the traffic in the canyon may approximate 40%- 60% of total City traffic.
The point is that a simple extrapolation of current road maintenance costs to the canyon may result in an underestimation, maybe a significant one, of actual costs. Others pointed out that the City significantly underestimated the costs of maintaining the South County beaches when assessing whether to accept the County’s relinquishment offer in 2023.
Liability also remains an open issue. An original estimate of $11 million annually is thought by the City to be too high. The City acknowledged that it is still working on developing a better estimate.
Perhaps the biggest bone of contention was the insistence by most in attendance that the relinquishment issue be put to a vote. The City Manager suggested that a decision on a referendum was a political one and it was not within his purview to recommend a political decision to the Council. Some pointed out that a decision not to recommend was in fact a recommendation. They suggested that his recommended action to Council include a summary of the public’s thoughts on a referendum, and a recommendation that Council formally deliberate on its appropriateness. He said he would consider it.
Whether to accept the relinquishment offer will be on the agenda for the June 9 Council meeting.