The Laguna Beach Planning Commission on Nov. 5 approved a package of amendments and new entitlements for the Pacific Edge Hotel (647 South Coast Highway and Sleepy Hollow Lane), including design review, an amended conditional use permit, a coastal development permit, a revocable encroachment permit and a variance request to allow multiple elevators that do not meet code height limits.

Staff principal planner Wendy Jeong presented the revised program, which reduces the previously‑entitled room count by 20 (projected total of 136 rooms), replaces two surface parking lots with an automated parking structure totaling approximately 58,476 square feet and 220 vehicle spaces and relocates vehicular access to Sleepy Hollow Lane. The applicant also presented a modified plan that removed a previously proposed rooftop public retail pavilion and substituted a private, lower‑profile roof garden to reduce height and view‑impact concerns. Rincon prepared an addendum to the 2021 initial study and mitigated negative declaration; staff shared the consultant’s conclusion that the modified project would not produce new or more severe environmental impacts than previously analyzed.

Owners and Foster + Partners, the design architect, described the project as contextual to Laguna’s coastal topography and historic development pattern; traffic consultant LSA reported that the consolidated parking approach is expected to reduce valet trips on South Coast Highway and improve circulation on Sleepy Hollow Lane. The applicant’s contractor described an anticipated soil export of roughly 33,000 cubic yards (hauling plan discussed in public testimony) and a construction window of roughly 24 to 26 months once full mobilization begins. Staff and consultants described mitigation and construction logistics to reduce impacts on neighboring streets, and the applicant revised elements of the plan after neighbor concerns about ocean‑view impacts.

Public commenters included property owners, businesses and immediate neighbors; comments ranged from support for the design and modernization to concerns about view impacts, truck haul routes and construction staging. After discussion on parking operations, pedestrian circulation on Sleepy Hollow Lane and construction staging, commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the updated resolution approving the requested entitlements and to adopt the CEQA addendum to the 2021 IS/MND.

What’s next: The project is approved at the planning commission level but remains subject to appeals (planning commission decisions are appealable to City Council); building permits, Caltrans and other agency approvals (as applicable) and final construction logistics remain to be coordinated. The commission directed staff and the applicant to refine operational details for valet/stacking and the Sleepy Hollow pedestrian path during final design and pre‑construction coordination.

Sources: Staff presentation and supporting memos (including Rincon addendum), applicant and consultant testimony, and the Nov. 5, 2025 Planning Commission meeting public record.