Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Laguna Beach leaders approve day-labor site purchase
The city will offer $18,000 to Caltrans for the 16,810 square-foot parcel of land used for day laborer hiring.
By CHRISTA WOODALL
The Orange County Register

LAGUNA BEACH - City leaders unanimously approved purchasing the land used for a day labor hiring center at its meeting Tuesday night, a move that would end a two-year struggle over the property's ownership.

The Council authorized City Manager Ken Frank to offer the California Department of Transportation $18,000 for the land. The California Transportation Commission board must still sign off on the purchase contract at a meeting this summer to seal the deal.

Still in the air is what the use of the land will be. The purchase agreement deems the land for park, recreational and open space use.

The Laguna Beach day labor center has been in the crossfire of Orange County's illegal immigration debate. Two years ago, city resident and anti-illegal immigration activist Eileen Garcia uncovered that the parcel was in fact owned by Caltrans.

Caltrans agreed to lease the land to the city before deeming it excess right of way that went up for public sale last year. Laguna Beach is the only bidder.

The price breaks down to $1.07 per square foot – a deal city leaders said they were happy to take.

"The land deal is a good land deal," said Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson. "When is last time anyone was able to buy a piece of land that big in Laguna Beach for that price?"

Opinions on the purchase were strong and split from the speakers at the meeting.

Although Frank has said the land would be used as a park, some speakers questioned if that park land would be open and available to all residents.

"I'm all for having an ice cream park in town; what I'm opposed to is having a day labor site on it," Garcia said. "If day laborers are using it every day, how can the public use it? Can my family go in and sit down at picnic tables? Does Ken Frank wish for a nice park available to all, or is he wishing to protect the land of the day laborers?"

Attorney and Laguna Beach Gene Gratz opined that the site has been a welcome solution for Laguna Beach by keeping laborers limited to one location rather than soliciting work throughout town, a defense repeated by Council members.

"We have lots of parks; what we need is a day labor site," Gratz said. "There is a practical side… These people come here to work. They come because they want to support their families… and should be welcomed as they are."

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/land ... aguna-city