City Looks Beyond Oil Spill to New Pier, Plaza : Huntington Beach: Council members and civic leaders proceed apace with plans for beach development. They envision no less than ‘one of the finest public areas in the world.’

Against the bleak backdrop of a shoreline stained with crude oil, city leaders on Saturday proceeded anyway with plans to delight beach lovers.

City Council members, city employees and a cross-section of civic leaders met at the Huntington Beach Art Center throughout most of the day to discuss plans for a new pier fronted by an artistic plaza.

Before going into their meeting, the city leaders walked around the pier area to survey the ruin. They saw a beach closed to the public because of the oil spill and a barricaded pier, closed since July, 1988, because of storm damage.

But the city leaders said a new beachfront will emerge one day, hopefully next year.

“Building the pier must come first, but I firmly believe we should also plan for a plaza as we go forward,” said Councilwoman Grace Mitchell.

The council members, as well as most of the civic leadership, want construction of the new pier to begin this summer. But the City Council was informed Monday that the city is still $3.5 million short of the estimated $11-million cost of a new pier. The council voted Monday to explore the possibility of hiring professional fund-raisers to raise the additional $3.5 million.

A new plaza at the head of the pier would cost an additional $3 million to $7 million, according to Erskine. The city leaders had a few suggestions, but no firm plans, on how money for a plaza might be raised.

Councilman John Erskine said he favored putting a bond measure before city voters.

Mayor Thomas J. Mays, who previously said he thinks a bond issue should only be a last resort, said Saturday he hoped that commercial developers could donate money for the plaza. Mays did not attend the planning session Saturday because he was tied up with the oil spill cleanup. But he commented on the pier and plaza plans in an interview later in the day.

Ron Yeo, a Newport Beach architect, displayed drawings to the civic leaders for a proposed pier plaza. His concept calls for a circular top level on the plaza, flanked by two semicircular viewing platforms. The bottom level would house a surfing museum.

“This community can take its downtown and create one of the finest public areas in the world,” Yeo said.

Some business and civic leaders at the session said they wanted some changes to Yeo’s concept. But most of those who spoke endorsed the overall idea of a sweeping new plaza to lead into a new pier.

The city’s current goal is to start construction on the pier about July and have it opened by Labor Day, 1991. Mays said construction of the plaza could not be started until about six months after work on the pier begins.

The city leaders also discussed several other downtown redevelopment projects. One of those proposed projects, Pierside Village, calls for building three or four new restaurants to the south of the new pier. The project, however, is opposed by the State Lands Commission, which claims the commercial development would be a misuse of public beach land.