A Push for Civic Arts District Expansion
By WILLIAM HAGLE
Resident serving business in Laguna may be falling victim to far more than zoning issues.
"Many types of things locals used to buy in Laguna are now bought on the Internet," pointed out Par Shoaii, the 27-year owner of the video store on the corner of Forest and Ocean Avenues, which expects to close soon. Ocean Avenue now lacks the bustle of local foot traffic, he said, blaming traffic congestion and shifts in buying habits.
In an effort to assist residentserving businesses keep their doors open, Councilmembers Elizabeth Pearson and Kelly Boyd last month proposed expanding what is known as the civic arts district to include more downtown streets, including some of Ocean Avenue and Third Street. Within the district, which currently extends to the City Hall side of Third Street and along Laguna Canyon Road, building height restriction are looser and live-work projects encouraged.
The proposed district expansion, returned to the planning commission for further refinement, would aim to give expanding art organizations more flexibility and allow artist live-work spaces, which perhaps would address the vacant storefronts along Ocean Avenue, home to mostly resident serving businesses.
The shoe and leather repair shop Factotum has virtually no tourist business, but neither are the majority of its patrons locals, said owners Tom and Daniele Graffio. Since opening in 1982, the shop has catered to high-end out-of-town retailers.
The shop name hints at its secret for success. Factotum is a Latin blend meaning, "Person who does the whole thing," which accurately describes the shop's services repairing shoes, bags and anything leather for clients such as department stores.
"People come from all around the world specifically for us," Tom Graffio said. "We are part of the fashion industry."
Though thriving, Factotum is not specifically the resident- serving business the Pearson/ Boyd bill aims to help. The proposal would reflect the success of live-work spaces in San Diego, Carmel, and Santa Monica.
A change in the city's livework plan would put a new rush of local clients directly outside the door of Noel Lashley, who runs Laguna Art Supply on Ocean Avenue. Tourists drop by on Saturdays when the outdoor market is open, but otherwise the shop mostly serves local artists, Lashley said. He lays the vacancy problem on high rents.
Under similar revitalization projects elsewhere, city policies encourage or actively build places for artists to live and work in a dying part of town because property is affordable. An artist community helps draw higher-end tenants. Sometimes, such a solution's success breeds the "Soho effect," a gradual gentrification that drives up prices and drives out the artists that made the place cool to reinhabit in the first place.
Several privately financed artist live work projects are in various states of development around Laguna, including plans in Canyon Acres, on Glenneyre Street, two on Laguna Canyon Road and another for North Coast Highway.
A longer term solution comes from the Minneapolis-based non-profit, Artspace. Their website describes two dozen conversion projects and testifies to neighborhoods they've helped revive. Artspace gardens and parks inspired other businesses to return to neighborhoods long thought unsalvageable, tapping a mix of federal, state, and private grants. Artspace battles the Soho effect by retaining ownership of the buildings and renting spaces specifically to artists. By relying on grants and donations, the nonprofit need not generate the profit margins expected by an individual property owner or developer.
Though Laguna's residentserving business district is a long way from unsalvageable, City Hall is looking to avert what some see as a looming vacancy crisis in commercial property brought on by high rents and property values. A shortage of affordable housing rentals compounds the problem.
Former planning commissioner Becky Jones disagreed with the expansion proposal, saying the civic arts district was originally designed for the canyon.
Mayor Jane Egly said the current proposal lacked sufficient clarity to pass as is. "I can't figure out what the goal is."
The council voted 5-0 to return the proposal to the planning commission for refinement.
