MISSION STATEMENT
To ensure that the City of Laguna Beach will endure for future generations as a thriving, sustainable community that respects and nurtures our scenic natural surroundings, village character, and quality oflife.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The following guiding principles provide the basis for detailed policies included in the General Plan elements.
1. Strengthen our sense of community. The General Plan envisions Laguna Beach as a place of abundant scenic natural beauty, small-town village charm, and cultural diversity. Laguna residents take great pride in their community, which has a tradition of promoting the arts, historic preservation, and participation in civic and community organizations. The community is made up of quiet, close-knit neighborhoods of beachside and hillside homes. The residential neighborhoods are complemented by amenities such as the beaches, trails, shops, and restaurants, and these amenities are easily accessible to residents and visitors. Ongoing public education, civic participation, and monitoring regional growth are keys to maintaining and enhancing the positive characteristics of the community.
2. Preserve and enhance the community's natural environment and distinctive setting in the region-a picturesque seaside community surrounded by hillside open space.
The City's built environment is shaped and influenced by its natural setting. Scenic views of the Pacific coastline, hillsides, and canyons are distinctive elements of this setting and greatly enhance the community's image and sense of place. Ensuring that the City's environmentally sensitive surroundings are maintained as open space is vital to maintaining its character. As stewards of the environment, community members understand the importance of preserving environmentally sensitive open spaces, marine resources, water quality, and air quality for future generations. The City is committed to sustainable development patterns by ensuring that all future development complies with General Plan policies and development standards and that land zoned for open space is maintained in its natural condition.
3. Enhance recreational opportunities for residents and visitors, while protecting environmentally sensitive natural resources. Laguna Beach is situated in one of the most scenic settings in the State. Picturesque views of the Pacific coastline, hillsides, and canyons attract many visitors to the community year-round. Laguna Beach also has numerous environmentally sensitive areas and habitat that must be protected and preserved. The General Plan responds to this challenge directly and proactively, through a comprehensive, integrated strategy to facilitate and manage the influx of visitors in ways that deliberately avoid adverse effects on local resources. The General Plan 2-7-12
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provides multiple policies designed to integrate resource protection with active planning to accommodate visitors.
4. Minimize the impact of the automobile on the character of Laguna Beach and emphasize a more pedestrian-oriented environment, safer sidewalks/pathways, landscaped buffer zones, and alternative means of transportation. Transportation alternatives are a high priority for Laguna Beach, particularly during the summer festival season. During the summer months and on holidays and weekends Laguna Beach is frequently impacted by traffic. Through its General Plan policies, the City continually strives to facilitate the movement of traffic in a safe and uncongested manner consistent with a pedestrian-oriented community. The proximity of some commercial and residential land uses in the City and mixed-use development are ideal for pedestrian and bicycle use. General Plan policies promote and encourage a pedestrian-oriented community by developing a system of bicycle rights-of-way and pedestrian paths, increasing alternative transit opportunities, and discouraging high-speed traffic along City streets.
5. Enhance the downtown by preserving its village character and ensuring a variety of unique businesses and activities. The City strives to preserve the village atmosphere of the downtown, which is characterized by its pedestrian orientation, lowscale buildings, a variety of commercial, restaurant, office, residential and public facilities uses, Main Beach, historic landmarks, and diverse architectural styles. The Downtown Specific Plan (DSP) is the primary means of implementing the General Plan policies to preserve the downtown. The DSP preserves the unique qualities of the downtown by establishing design guidelines and criteria for maintaining a balanced mix of land uses and addressing potential safety hazards.
6. Foster and promote a balance of retail opportunities for residents and visitors.
Laguna Beach is a highly desirable beach community and prime tourist destination. In order to preserve and provide a balanced mix of uses for both residents and tourists, the City has established districts for the location of visitor commercial and resident-serving uses.
7. Ensure development is responsive to individual site constraints. The General Plan recognizes that most development and/or redevelopment will inevitably involve infill projects or building on difficult sites, sites that are characterized by multiple constraints.
General Plan policies set forth our philosophy that development, including remodels and the creation of new building sites, should begin with an awareness of constraints inherent in the particular site being developed. Planning, access, siting, and design choices should reflect a response to the particular characteristics and challenges associated with the site; examples include constraints related to the presence of significant natural resources and safety hazards as well as those related to the need for infill projects to be compatible in design, scale, and character with the surrounding neighborhood. Design guidelines, in conjunction with the applicable zoning standards, guide the Design Review Board toward approval of well-designed buildings, landscaping, and open spaces all of which reflect the quality and values of the lJ 2-7-12
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community, enhance the visual character of neighborhoods, and preserve views and privacy to the greatest extent feasible. The General Plan sets forth the philosophy avoidance of negative impacts is preferred to mitigation of those impacts.
8. Ensure that infrastructure is strengthened and maintained. The City's public infrastructure supports the type, distribution, and intensity of land uses designated in the General Plan. Standards for capital facilities and public services such as streets, parks, storm drainage, water, sewers, and fire safety are established to ensure that growth does not exceed capacity. Although the community is essentially built-out, the General Plan reinforces the City's commitment to maintain and upgrade its aging infrastructure.
9. Encourage cultural, ethnic, and social diversity. Culture and the arts have been the cornerstones of the community for many years. Laguna Beach is widely known as the home of the summer art festivals and numerous local artists. Local playhouses, an art museum, an art college and numerous galleries are indicative of the art influence in the community. To reinforce its commitment to the arts, the City has established the Arts Commission to review and recommend public art and to promote art-related uses throughout the community. The City has also adopted a Historic Resources Element and a related ordinance to encourage the long-term preservation of historically significant buildings. The General Plan policies promote social diversity by planning for a range of housing types from single-family dwellings to multiple units and mixed-use developments, artists' live/work units, and low-income disabled, senior citizen, and studio housing.
10. Ensure that safety and disaster preparedness are considered in all City decisions.
Hazard and risk evaluation is important in determining the appropriateness of land use changes, especially in the steep hillsides, rugged canyons, flood plains, and varied terrains of Laguna Beach. These topographic' features accentuate geologic, hydrologic, and fire hazards and require thorough evaluation and analysis as a part of the land use and design planning processes. The Land Use Element contains numerous policies that address hazard and safety planning. The City's Safety Element addresses emergency planning/response, hazardous materials, geologic hazards, fire hazards, flood hazards, and shoreline protection.
11. Ensure that sustainability guides City policy. The City recognizes the magnitude of the challenge that climate change poses. The City can move toward sustainability and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the way it manages land development and building construction, conserves habitats and natural resources, provides efficient transportation and mobility systems, and develops its infrastructure and public services.
Sites should be planned, buildings designed, and infrastructure developed to reduce the consumption of energy, water, and raw materials, generation of waste, and use of toxic and hazardous substances. The General Plan establishes a framework to ensure that the City is sustainable, resilient, and regenerative for residents, visitors, and future generations.
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