McKay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: City Clerk & City Council Public Comment Form
From: Laguna Beach, CA <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 7, 2026 8:31 AM
To: City Council <[email protected]>; McKay, Ann Marie CC <[email protected]>; Baldridge, Cheryl CC <[email protected]>
Subject: *NEW SUBMISSION* City Clerk & City Council Public Comment Form City Clerk & City Council Public Comment Form
Full Name
Craig brashier
What is the subject of your comment?
855 La Vista Drive ADU
Is the item you wish to comment about on the upcoming City Council agenda? Yes
If the item is on the agenda, what number is it?
Comment
Dear Mayor and City Council Members, We are writing to you as a concerned neighbor living down the street from the proposed project at 855 La Vista Drive. While we understand the property owner wants to build an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), the Design Review Board's recent 3-to-0 approval has left several legal and safety issues unaddressed. As the City Council conducts its review, 1 respectfully request you to grant this appeal and deny the project so that the impact to the watercourse and the neighborhood can be further studied. First, the lack of a proper watercourse evaluation seems inconsistent with the law and should be evaluated based on current facts and a thorough review by the appropriate agency. Why is the development allowed to ignore the city's 25-foot easement setback rule? In addition, it seems like giving this a casual CEQA environmental exemption when the hillside has a documented history of sliding is a safety hazard for everyone living below it. Furthermore, the construction logistics are a potential recipe for neighborhood chaos.
Virginia Park Drive is a very narrow, one-way street with almost zero parking. Although the DRB spent time looking for an off-site workaround on an adjacent parcel just to handle vehicles the project was approved without any binding, enforceable conditions to manage construction staging or worker or long-term parking. Finally, we need to look at what is honestly being built here. This is being presented as a modest "927-square-foot ADU," but the blueprints may tell a completely different story. With minor, strategic under-roof improvements (which seem to be already baked into the framing), the upper storage of 485 sf area looks to easily be converted in the future into fully inhabitable space creating an overall ADU more than 1,400 square feet and a total area of 1854 sq feet of enclosed space. Please protect our hillside, our streets, and our neighborhood character by overturning this approval and denying the permits at this time so that the appropriate parties can further review the plans. Respectfully, Craig and Elaine Brashier 1