Laguna to Add More Services, Build Parking Garage

The city of Laguna Beach plans to expand its popular free trolley service, hire officials to direct traffic downtown, replace all its parking meters with credit-card-capable ones and build a park and parking garage at the mouth of Laguna Canyon Road City Manager John Pietig said.

He touted his city's accomplishments at the South Orange County Regional Chamber of Commerce State of the County Luncheon in Dana Point Friday. City managers from six south OC cities spoke about their finances, various initiatives and infrastructure projects.

Pietig said that over the 10 weeks the trolleys ran last summer, they carted some 580,000 people, representing a 50-percent increase over five years. Because of this, the city plans to expand the trolleys' operating period partly into the off-season.

This year, he said, the city planned to use expanded revenues to bring back its traffic patrol to help relieve congestion downtown.

Pietig also said the city would build a park and parking garage at the mouth of Laguna Canyon where the 133 meets Forest Avenue. In other efforts to improve parking, the city will replace all the coin-operated meters that remain in the city with ones that read credit and debit cards.

Not only is this more convenient for motorists, Pietig said, but it will allow digital signage to know where spots are filled and where they're empty in order to direct them more efficiently to vacant spots.

Also, a new lifeguard headquarters is expected to finish construction and open in February or March of 2014, Pietig said.