What Laguna Beach’s Planning Commission is about to decide

The Planning Commission meets at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 505 Forest Avenue. The agenda is short — one consent item and three public hearings — and three of the four are about the city’s own coastline: a park, a boardwalk and a construction parking lot next to a hotel remodel. These are pending decisions from the posted agenda — not outcomes. Every item links to the official record.

Source: official agenda · Written comments are accepted until 5:30 p.m. the business day before the meeting, to the Planning Manager at 505 Forest Avenue or sbeier@lagunabeachcity.net

🚧 A construction parking lot until October 2028

• Temporary Use Permit 2026-1685 would “establish a temporary construction employee parking lot within an existing paved surface lot from October 2026 through October 2028 for the duration of the Pacific Edge Hotel remodel project in the REC (Recreation) zone.” Location: 30802 Coast Highway, APN 656-191-38. Item 4.2
• The applicant is listed as Danielle Foley (PDB Collaborative) for Dune Drifter LLC. Staff recommends adopting Resolution No. 2026-1685 and finding the action categorically exempt from CEQA under Section 15304(e), Class 4 (Minor Alterations to Land). Item 4.2
• The permit is on the consent calendar — meaning it would be approved without separate discussion unless pulled. The agenda’s own attachment list shows the item has been here before: it includes a “Revision Markup” of the resolution and “Correspondence Received Following the September 2, 2026 Public Hearing.” Item 4.2
• One jurisdictional wrinkle the agenda flags: the site sits in the Hobo Canyon area of deferred certification, so any Coastal Development Permit the project needs is “subject to the original jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission rather than the City.” Item 4.2

🌳 Jahraus Park renovation

• A Design Review and Coastal Development Permit (DR 2026-1760 and CDP 2026-1762) for the Jahraus Park Renovation Capital Improvement Project at 260 Cliff Drive, applied for by the city’s own Public Works and Utilities Department. Item 5.2
• The scope, as listed: “accessibility and pedestrian circulation improvements, rehabilitation of existing park features, landscape and irrigation improvements, pathway lighting, parking and site amenity improvements, and associated civil work” within the CBD-P (Public Parks) District of the Downtown Specific Plan. No cost appears on the agenda. Item 5.2
• The site is in an appealable area of the Coastal Zone — the agenda links the Coastal Commission’s appeal procedures directly. The commission last saw a version of this at concept review on November 5, 2025. Item 5.2

🏖 Main Beach boardwalk: 2,045 boards, no decision yet

• Concept Review 2026-1761 covers the Main Beach Boardwalk Improvement Project — replacing “approximately 2,045 existing wood decking boards along the Main Beach Boardwalk, estimated at approximately 1,200 linear feet, and at the associated boardwalk access stairs, within the existing boardwalk footprint, alignment, and structural configuration.” Item 5.3
• The agenda says plainly: “No project approval or other discretionary action is requested at this time.” Staff asks the commission to review “decking material alternatives” and “provide feedback to inform material selection and the preparation of construction documents.” Item 5.3
• The site runs from the Marine Safety Headquarters to Laguna Avenue (307 South Coast Highway). Coastal permit requirements “have not yet been determined and are not before the Planning Commission as part of this concept review.” Item 5.3

🍭 Two wall signs on South Coast Highway

• Sign Permit 2026-1390 at 858 South Coast Highway: “Installation of two wall signs totaling 46.2 square feet at an existing restaurant located in the C-1, Local Business District, and after-the-fact approval of an existing 4.9 square foot wall sign near the building entrance.” Item 5.1
• “After-the-fact” means the third sign is already up. Staff recommends approval by resolution, finding the project exempt from CEQA. The site is in a non-appealable area of the Coastal Zone. Item 5.1

🪑 Also on the agenda

• Draft minutes of the September 2, 2026 meeting, on consent. Item 4.1
• Two commissioners will attend remotely and, as the Brown Act requires, their locations are printed on the public agenda: Chair Goldman from Beverly Hills and Commissioner Whitin from Los Angeles. “All other Planning Commissioners in attendance at this meeting will be participating from Council Chambers.” Agenda
• Public comment is limited to three minutes per speaker. The meeting is broadcast on Cox cable channel 852, which the agenda describes as “a courtesy only and…not guaranteed to be technically feasible or uninterrupted.” Item 3
• “Other Business” is listed with nothing under it. Item 6

Council Brief summaries are produced from official public records by our automated newsroom and reviewed before publication. Items are described as posted; the council may amend, continue, or remove items at the meeting. Spot an error? hello@councilbrief.com — we publish corrections.