City takes next step in assuming ownership of county-controlled beaches in South Laguna
By SARA HALL
City Council unanimously agreed this week and took the next step in the process of assuming ownership of county-controlled beaches and coastal property in South Laguna.
Council voted 5-0 on Tuesday (Nov. 15) to approve a Cooperative Transfer Agreement with Orange County to transfer the identified parcels, easements, leases, licenses, permits and memorandum of understandings, as assignable, for city ownership, maintenance and operations of the identified coastal properties. Properties include Aliso Beach parking and concessions, capital improvements and maintenance responsibility of beach accesses and all marine safety operations.
“The whole agreement looks to be in really good shape,” said Mayor Pro Tem Bob Whalen.
It’s great to be getting these properties from the county, added Councilmember George Weiss.
“I’m looking forward to these being our beaches,” he said.
The action also authorized and appropriated the utilization of advanced one-time funds for initial equipment, supply purchases and personnel expenditures to the fiscal year 2022-23 adopted budget to include authorizing: the addition of one full-time administrative assistant for marine safety; one full-time human resources supervisor to coordinate recruitment activities for necessary deployment of city-staff for South Laguna beaches and, re-classifying the marine safety chief one level higher on the non-elected management personnel salary schedule.
This is the accumulation of a lot of work over the last two years, said Assistant City Manager Ken Domer.
Council unanimously agreed on September 20 in favor of pursuing a deal with Orange County to assume ownership of county beaches and coastal properties within Laguna Beach city limits in exchange for a lump sum of $22 million.
The agreement is scheduled to be considered by the Orange County Board of Supervisors on December 6.
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Photo by Mary Hurlbut
Council approved a transfer agreement this week to take control of all county-owned beaches, including West Street Beach
City staff developed the agreement with the county to facilitate the efficient transfer of the identified properties. As part of the transfer, and in acknowledgement that the city will be assuming long-term capital, maintenance, and operational costs for the properties and services, the county will compensate the city in the total amount of $22 million, $2 million of which will be transferred within 30 days.
There are about 70 fee parcels and easements. Domer explained that it’s a flexible transfer agreement and ensures if they miss one for any reason, there’s an authority assigned, both to the city manager and the counterpart at the county, to identify that easement for the property to make sure it can be transferred. It also includes the assignment/assumption of permits, licenses and leases.
It also ensures advancement of the $2 million lump-sum payment for equipment, supplies and recruitment needs, he noted.
“That’s important because there’s a lot of staffing that we need to do,” Domer said, including bringing in a marine safety administrative assistant, an HR supervisor and movement of the marine safety chief to a higher responsibility band.
Based on the need to begin recruiting marine safety positions, training and onboarding new staff, and purchasing necessary equipment and supplies, the goal would be to commence ocean lifeguard operations at all South Laguna beaches on a “base” staffing level as of March 1, 2023.
City staff estimates that it will need an additional 50 seasonal ocean lifeguards to achieve peak staffing levels for all beaches within the city by summer. The start date of March 1 will allow crews to begin base level staffing and permit both seasonal and full-time marine safety officers to prepare equipment and develop staffing consistent with the rest of the city, scaling up to peak staffing by approximately June 10, 2023, for the summer.
Marine Safety Chief Kevin Snow confirmed they looked at different timelines and are happy with this proposed start date of March 1.
“The bottom line is we’re leaning into this,” Snow said. “This has been a long process, a lot of talk, and a lot of time to think about how we’re going to do this.”
The city has responded to mutual aid calls at county-owned coastal properties for many years, he noted, so they already have a lot of experience, but welcome local knowledge.
They also plan to do three weeks of “ride alongs” and share information with the current contractor, he added. Snow himself has also been spending a lot of time in South Laguna recently to ensure there are no emerging challenges.
They also have a very aggressive plan for hiring, Snow said.
“We have changed our process completely,” he said.
He’s confident that some of the changes they’ve made will bear fruit.
“We’re going to allow people to try out with three days’ notice on Main Beach, five days a week starting in January,” Snow explained, and they will run five different lifeguard academies based on the opportunities with the different schedules.
They’re positioning the city to be competitive with compensation, he added.
“So we’re really doing everything that we possibly can,” Snow said. “I feel positive that we’re going to get there, it’s going to take a lot of work, but we will be successful.”
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