Labor site sale delayed

Laguna Beach’s purchase of the Day Workers Center will be delayed by 90 days, if it goes through at all.

After meeting with State Sen. Tom Harman Tuesday, Caltrans Director Will Kempton ordered the delay — one day before bidding closed on the property — in order to study the sale of the site.

Caltrans alerted city officials of the delay on Thursday. The waiting period won’t pose any problem for the operation of the Day Workers Center as the city will continue to lease the site from Caltrans until it’s sold.

Harman thinks the state isn’t getting enough money for the property.

Harman said he will recommend Caltrans cancel the sale.

Laguna Beach was the only bidder on the Caltrans-owned parcel, designated by the city as the only place in Laguna Beach where people can solicit work. In January, the city bid $18,000 on the property, which Caltrans had previously put up for auction at $1.2 million.

Harman says he will meet with Caltrans and Laguna Beach officials to try to resolve issues.

The issue of the property’s value has been a bone of contention.

Last year, Caltrans had the property appraised and hung a $1.2 million price tag on the unzoned property. There were no bidders.

Laguna Beach City Manager Ken Frank said the city conducted an independent appraisal of the site that determined the best use of the land as open space. The City Council began to explore the option of zoning the area as open space, which would prohibit building.

A second Caltrans appraisal determined the property was worth only $18,000 as open space. On Dec. 20, Caltrans again put the property on the market, this time for $18,000.

Laguna Beach entered the only bid Jan. 8. The 60-day bidding period ended Wednesday.

“We were the only group that bid on it — naturally, as I had predicted,” Frank said.

Harman accused Laguna Beach of using a potential zoning order as leverage to discourage private buyers from purchasing the property while lowering the price for the city. It’s an example of discriminatory zoning, Harman said.

“The city of Laguna Beach, in its wisdom, decided they would down-zone the property,” Harman said.

This, Harman said, would dupe California out of more than a million dollars.

“The city is effectively denying the taxpayers of California, taxpayers like me and you, $1.2 million,” Harman said. “The states not getting it’s fair share of what the property’s worth.”

He also said he has issues with the Day Workers Center, which he believes encourages illegal immigration because the legal status of workers is not verified by the operators.

That’s on top of safety concerns. Harman said the state could be sued for negligence if someone was injured crossing Laguna Canyon Road.

“We have photographs of pedestrians just barely dodging a car,” Harman said. “You hate to say this but sooner or later someone will get run over out there.”

Frank said Harman’s concerns are misplaced. He said the strip of land simply isn’t developable.

“Any competent appraiser who looks at this site and sees the restrictions on the site is going to see that the property is relatively useless,” Frank said.

Frank said he and city officials look forward to meeting with Harman so that they can put the senator’s concerns to rest.