Laguna Beach Draws Line In Sand On Plastic, Sightline Pollution

Laguna Beach CA

13 July, 2021

5:17 PM

Description

LAGUNA BEACH, CA —Starting Thursday, there is a new plan to keep Laguna Beach clean and beautiful, according to Mayor Bob Whalen. A new $2 million initiative to improve the beauty of Laguna Beach while reducing the use of plastics begins Thursday, according to the city. Funded 100 percent by visitors through the city's Parking Fund and Measure LL, this initiative will reduce the impact of litter on beaches, oceans, parks and neighborhoods across the city. In March, the Laguna Beach City Council approved a new $2M resident-serving program called the Neighborhood and Environmental Protection Plan to mitigate visitor impacts to neighborhoods, enhance City services for residents and add environmental protection programs, a city spokesperson says. Mayor Bob Whalen discussed the initiative by the council. "This action by the Council will better protect our neighborhoods and preserve the natural beauty of our beaches and open space areas," Whalen said in a statement. "Through numerous neighborhood outreach meetings with our residents and neighbors over the last year, we've heard that more police protection, parking enforcement and trash pickup are needed to maintain the quality of life that we all expect." Starting Thursday, all single-use plastic food ware items are prohibited from all Laguna Beach trails, parks and beaches. The sale, use, and distribution of single-use, to-go plastic or polystyrene food ware items, including bioplastics, are also no longer permitted within the City of Laguna Beach, including: Plastic beverage straws Plastic stirrersPlastic cutleryPlastic take-out bagsTo help businesses, restaurants, visitors and residents get started on the Path to Plastic Free, the City of Laguna Beach is launching an informational outreach campaign and providing an online information toolkit and vendor and distributor resources. Reducing plastic is only half the battle, according to the city. The rest is improving the beautiful sightlines at the beach. Tents and large shade structures are no longer allowed on the beaches and feeding the birds and bike storage are also no-nos. Further ordinance updates as part of the Neighborhood and Environmental Protection Plan also take effect July 15, including: No feeding of wild birds in City ParksNo large shade structures on beaches to preserve public safety sightlinesNo storage of bicycles on Main Beach and Heisler ParkExpanding prohibition of abandonment of personal property in public spacesNon-coastal community parks to close at 10 p.m.It is not yet known what the fines for such actions will be if cited. According to the city, Neighborhood and Environmental Protection Plan service enhancements include new weekend "Litter Picker Crews" in South Laguna, North Laguna and TOW and along Coast Highway, and increasing the frequency and duration of public trash collection services at City beaches and along Coast Highway on weekends is already in effect. Additional trash cans have also be added at new locations and service dates extended for increased afternoon trash collection. Whalen expanded his opinion on the effort as well as the cost: "By committing $2 million to this effort, we are confident that we will produce positive and tangible results for our community." Find out more about the new Neighborhood & Environmental Protection Plan Ordinances at www.lagunabeachcity.net/NEPP. For further information regarding the plastic ordinance or enforcement provisions, don't hesitate to contact Laguna Beach Environmental Specialist Mike Phillips at [email protected] (949) 497-0390.