McKay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: 31552 Eagle Rock Way / 9/22 Call-Up Meeting
From: Adam Kaplan
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2026 6:07 PM
To: McKay, Ann Marie CC <[email protected]>; Wilson, Becket CM < [email protected]>; City Council <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: 31552 Eagle Rock Way / 9/22 Call-Up Meeting
Dear City Council Members,
I'm writing regarding the pending application for the McNicol family at 31552 Eagle Rock Way. I'd like to express my support for their proposal and, more broadly, my concern about the challenges that practical, family-oriented projects like this face in Laguna Beach.
I grew up in Laguna and returned six years ago as a professional, with the intention of re-establishing roots in the community. I volunteer coach water polo at LBHS and am an active member in the nearby community garden where I met the McNicol family. I hope to raise a family here myself, which is why this matter is a key issue for me.
My worry is that apparent unnecessary and absolute resistance to practical development makes it difficult for families to build their lives in Laguna. It seems that civic processes designed to preserve the unique character of our town are, in many cases, doing the opposite for the future generations.
As a neighbor on Florence, I have no concerns with the proposed project. It represents a modest, reasonable enhancement that allows a local family to make their home work for their needs.
Laguna is fortunate to have the McNicols in town. I hope the City will consider their proposal in the broader context of how our town supports young families who have chosen to put roots down in our community.
Thank you for your consideration.
Best,
Adam Kaplan
McKay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: Comment RE: Council Review - 31552 Eagle Rock Road From: Dustin Beutin
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2026 4:43 PM
To: McKay, Ann Marie CC <[email protected]>
Cc: Kiff, Dave CM <[email protected]>
Subject: Comment RE: Council Review - 31552 Eagle Rock Road To the City Council and Business Manager, I am writing as a South Laguna resident and homeowner in strong support of the Council's review of the approval at 31552 Eagle Rock Road.
There are important questions about this particular project, but I believe something larger is at stake: What is the role of our City's code-and City staff—in the development process? I don't think it is radical to state that the code should be the common ground between an applicant and their neighbors. It tells an applicant what they can reasonably expect to build and the family next door what they can reasonably expect to be built beside them. These two-way protections are valuable to all of us and allow changes that are predictable and less contentious.
As a resident who has owned homes at two locations in South Laguna, including in the Village zone, 1 am increasingly concerned that Laguna Beach has blurred an important distinction between helping applicants work within the code and helping applicants find a way around it.
It is easy to understand the impulse. The City wants to be easier to work with. Staff wants to help homeowners achieve their goals. Nobody wants an unnecessarily difficult permitting process. But, I believe this approach produces the opposite result: when staff helps advance a project beyond what the code ordinarily allows, the conflict does not disappear. It simply gets transferred from City Hall to the neighbors.
The property at the center of this review illustrates the problem. The applicant invests time and money developing a project they have been told can proceed. The neighbors read the code and believe its protections apply to them.
Those two expectations collide. The neighborhood objects. Design Review becomes contentious. Neighborhood organizations become involved. Lawyers and consultants may follow. Eventually, as happened here, the dispute reaches the City Council.
What should have been a predictable permitting process becomes a test of who has the most time, money, connections, and tolerance for conflict.
A homeowner should be able to go online, read the zoning rules for their property and design something that complies. Their neighbor should be able to read those same rules and know what protections they can depend upon. Neither should have to wage a political, financial, or emotional campaign against the other. The city's role should be to apply the rules long before neighbors have to argue over whether the rules were applied fairly and consistently for all applicants.
I respectfully ask the Council to determine whether the required findings were properly made in this case and, where they were not, require the project to be redesigned accordingly. Just as importantly, I hope the Council provides clear direction to City staff going forward: apply the code first, and recommend variances only where the required circumstances genuinely exist.
That would not make Laguna Beach more hostile to homeowners. It would make building here more predictable, less expensive, faster, fairer and considerably less contentious.
Thank you for your consideration.
Dustin Beutin West St.
1 McKay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: Please include this for 0922.2026 31552 Eagle Rock Way 2026-0922 call up up hearing agenda RE 31552 Eagle Roc way
From: Kris Yas
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2026 2:15 AM
To: McKay, Ann Marie CC <[email protected]>; Wilson, Becket CM <[email protected]>; City Council <[email protected]>
Cc: ryleyb
Subject: Please include this for 0922.2026 31552 Eagle Rock Way 2026-0922 call up up hearing agenda RE 31552 Eagle Roc way
Please include this for the 0922.2026 call up meeting agenda RE 31552 Eagle Rock Way Dear City Council members,
1am a Laguna Beach voter and concerned neighbor to the McNicol family of 31552 Eagle Rock Way, I strongly support their modest house planning application.
I truly believe that supporting young families to stay in their homes should be a council priority. I believe this wholeheartedly and so do others all around Laguna Beach. I live on a street where this is happening and believe this family should have the same opportunity.
I do not support the highly vocal yet small view of the usual antagonists, nor does the broad community.
Yours sincerely
Krisstell Yasnov
1 McKay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: 31552 Eagle Rock Way 2026-0922 hearing
From: Ryan Ghere
Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2026 4:01 PM
Subject: 31552 Eagle Rock Way 2026-0922 hearing
Dear Mayor and City Council Members,
I am a residential designer here in Laguna, and a neighbor of the McNicol family at 31552 Eagle Rock Way. I am writing to express my strong support for their very modest planning application.
I believe one of our community's priorities should be helping families remain in Laguna Beach and make reasonable improvements to their homes as their families and needs evolve. I believe this is a sentiment shared by many throughout our community.
While I recognize that there has been vocal opposition to this application, I do not believe those voices necessarily represent the broader community. From my perspective as both a neighbor and a designer, the McNicols' request is reasonable, modest, and deserving of the Council's support.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Ryan Ghere, AIA
Mckay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: planning application 2026-0922 call up hearing agenda ----Original Message--
From: Nancy Miller
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2026 2:03 PM
To: McKay, Ann Marie CC <[email protected]>; Wilson, Becket CM < [email protected]>; City Council <[email protected]>
Cc: Adam <[email protected]>
Subject: 2planning application026-0922 call up hearing agenda Property reference:
31552 Eagle Rock Way
2026-0922 call up hearing agenda
Dear City Council Members,
I am a Laguna Beach voter and immediate neighbor to the McNicol family at 31552 Eagle Rock Way. I strongly support their modest planning application. I am an architect by profession. My belief, which has widespread support in the community, is to support young families to stay in their homes. This should be a council priority.
I do not support the highly vocal yet minority views of the usual antagonists, nor does the overall community Yours Sincerely,
Nancy Miller
xxxxx Eagle Rock Way
xxXxXxXXXxXXXXXXXXXX
McKay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: 31552 Eagle Rock Way 09/22/26 call up hearing agenda From: Karen Metcalfe
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2026 12:45 PM
To: McKay, Ann Marie CC <[email protected]>; Wilson, Becket CM < [email protected]>; City Council <[email protected]>
Subject: 31552 Eagle Rock Way 09/22/26 cail up hearing agenda Please include this for the 09/22/26 call up meeting re: 31552 Eagle Rock Way Dear City Council members,
As a long-time resident of Laguna Beach and the owner of two homes in our community—including the property immediately next door to the McNicol family—| am writing to express my full and unequivocal support for their pending planning application.
A vital, widespread belief shared across our broader community is that supporting young families who want to stay in their homes should be a priority for our local council. What Adam and his family have proposed is a very modest, thoughtful remodel. They are not attempting to tear down a historic footprint or build an out-of- scale mansion; rather, they are simply trying to adapt their existing home to meet their family's needs.
As their immediate neighbor, I am the individual most directly impacted by this proposal, and I have absolutely no objections. Unfortunately, our town often sees a highly vocal minority of standard antagonists who oppose almost any change, regardless of merit. I want to emphasize that their critical view does not represent the broad, quiet majority of the neighborhood or the Laguna Beach community at large.
I urge the Council to approve this modest and reasonable application so that a wonderful young family can continue to grow and thrive in the town we all love.
Thank you for your time and continued service to Laguna Beach.
Warm regards,
Karen Metcalfe
Mckay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: 31552 Eagle Rock Way 2026-0922, Call Up Hearing Agenda From: Nadia Sawaf
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2026 1:36 PM
To: Wilson, Becket CM <[email protected]>; McKay, Ann Marie CC <[email protected]> Cc: City Council <[email protected]>
Subject: 31552 Eagle Rock Way 2026-0922, Call Up Hearing Agenda Dear City Council members,
I hope this message finds you all well.
I'm a registered Laguna Beach voter, and neighbor to the kind McNicol family of 31552 Eagle Rock Way.
I'm writing to express my strong support for their planning application. I, along with many other members of our community, have no concerns with their proposed plans and believe this modest project is entirely reasonable.
I do not believe the highly vocal, yet minority opposition represents the broader sentiment of our neighborhood. I also wanted to emphasize our belief that the City Council should prioritize fairly supporting young families who want to remain in and invest in their homes and in our community.
The McNicol's are a wonderful family, and deserve the opportunity to pursue efforts in making their home work for their family.
Thank you very much for your consideration and time.
In gratitude,
Nadia Sawaf
McKay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: 31552 Eagle Rock Way 2026-0922 call up hearing agenda From: Jon Jenett
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2026 11:28 AM
To: McKay, Ann Marie CC <[email protected]>
Cc: Adam McNichol TSG ADM NEI; City Council <[email protected]> Subject: 31552 Eagle Rock Way 2026-0922 call up hearing agenda Please include this for the 09.22.2026 call up meeting agenda RE 31552 Eagle Rock Way
Dear Ms. McKay -
My wife and I are long-time Laguna Beach (and South Laguna) residents, having owned homes and lived here for over 35 years and raising our three children here. We live one block away from the property at 31552 Eagle Rock Way that is the subject of your review and hopeful approval. We walk by this property daily and have gotten to know the McNicol family.
One of the things that we love about our little neighborhood is that we have REAL neighbors like the McNicol family who are actively living here and raising families. We see them when we're out walking our dogs, we see them at community events, and we enjoy the fabric of our community which is woven from many small interactions with actual real residents who live here.
We believe the city should be encouraging young families and other full-time residents to actually occupy their homes in our neighborhood, not just buy a second home and remodel it, and let it sit empty and never be used. Certainly, none of us wants to see our neighborhood get taken over by "speculators" who buy, fix up and flip houses. Nor do we really want a bunch of empty second homes (even if they seem to comply with design regulations).
The McNicol family is an important and energetic part of this little village. As grandparents of our own three grandsons, we enjoy seeing the McNicol family walk the neighborhood and saying hi to their delightful little daughter as she laughs and plays.
The application you are considering seems like a reasonable attempt to provide the family with a bit more living space without creating a "McMansion" Placing a "bell jar" on any changes to our community and insisting it must stay as it has been for 50 years does not reflect the reality of the McNicol's application as a modest improvement well within the scale of the neighborhood.
As long-time residents and homeowners and active participants in our little community, we encourage you to approve the remodel plans proposed by the McNicol family and allow them to enjoy their property while still contributing to a vibrant neighborhood.
On a final note, I happened to see a Laguna Beach City vehicle in our neighborhood recently. The signage on the side indicated it was charged with "Community Development" ". We would argue strongly that allowing and encouraging sensible home upgrades like that proposed by the McNicol family for their home and encouraging this delightful young family to stay as a vibrant, involved part of our neighborhood is the ultimate in "community development".
Thanks for your time and attention to this note and for your service to our community. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Mary and Jon Jenett
Jewel Avenue, Laguna Beach
2