Huntington Beach planners approve 20-unit condo and retail development for downtown
A plan for 20 new condominiums in downtown Huntington Beach has approval from the Planning Commission.
The four-story project at 414-424 Main St., a nearly half-acre lot that’s currently vacant, also would include 5,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. The developer, Peter Zehnder, called it the first for-sale residential project in downtown Huntington Beach in some 20 years.
The commission approved it on a 5-2 vote Tuesday night, with members Alan Ray and Pat Garcia dissenting.
Ray said he had concerns about the project being significantly taller than everything around it, as well as about parking.
The project would provide 51 spaces, nine fewer than city code requires. The developer is paying a fee in place of the parking. Some of the spaces will be underground.
Garcia echoed the parking concerns. “Minimum is minimum,” he said.
Commission Chairman John Scandura praised the project, saying it is “really going to enhance that section of Main Street.”
Without it, he added, “we wind up having an ugly, bare, vacant lot with a green fence around it.”
The commission’s decision is final unless appealed to the City Council.
Twitter: @BradleyZint
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