Laguna Beach City Council Regular Meeting - March 22, 2011

March 22, 2011

Executive Summary

- Councilmember Boyd appealed a Design Review Board decision on a hedge height claim at 31955 10th Avenue to test the city's appeal process, marking the last hedge height case heard by the DRB before such matters transferred to City Council. - The appeal involved a complex hedge dispute between property owners David Panos and Barry Stevens at 31955 10th Avenue and their neighbors Wayne and Michelle Phelps at 31953 10th Avenue, involving vegetation blocking ocean views and sunlight. - Landscape consultant James Dockstader had determined that vegetation in side and rear yards constituted hedges requiring height reduction, while vegetation in the front yard did not, with the Design Review Board adding requirements to remove a rubber tree and limb up pine and palm trees. - Property owner David Panos argued that the dense vegetation was necessary to prevent landslides and flooding on the property, which sits on an active watercourse handling up to 140,000 gallons per minute of water flow, and that public safety concerns were deemed irrelevant under the hedge ordinance. - Neighbors Wayne Phelps and others testified that the vegetation forms a dense barrier blocking approximately 80% of t

Key Decisions

- The City Council voted 3-2 to deny Councilmember Boyd's appeal and uphold the Design Review Board's decision requiring vegetation trimming and removal at 31955 10th Avenue (Councilmembers voting in favor: three unnamed; opposed: Councilmember Boyd and Councilmember Verna). - The decision requires the property owners at 31955 10th Avenue to remove the rubber tree in the front yard (Area A) and limb up the pine and palm trees in the rear yard (Area C), as ordered by the Design Review Board. - The Council maintained the Design Review Board's determination that vegetation in the front yard (Area