HUNTINGTON BEACH : Residents’ Suit Seeks to Block Condos

Three Huntington Harbour residents filed a lawsuit Monday in an attempt to block a condominium project scheduled to be built in their waterfront community.

The suit brought by Barbara Devlin, Joseph Scheitzach and John Kerkes and filed in Orange County Superior Court charges that the city acted illegally in issuing the land-use approval for the project because the housing element--the city plan defining present and future housing needs--was out of date at that time.

The suit also argues that the land-use approvals for the project “will be detrimental to the property values of many of the existing homes in Huntington Harbour.”

The residents asked that the city permit for the project be declared invalid. Under state law, the housing element must be updated every five years; the city missed the deadline last summer for filing an updated housing element.

The city has since submitted a revised plan to state officials, who are reviewing it.

In March, a Superior Court commissioner invalidated a permit for a 329-unit housing development in Seal Beach because that city’s housing element was out of date.

The Huntington Harbour project proposed by Coultrip Development Co. calls for 36 units in a four-story structure at Warner Avenue and Edgewater Street near Pacific Coast Highway.

Several Huntington Harbour residents unsuccessfully protested the development plans earlier this year when the issue came before the City Council. Those residents charged that the height of the project would not be in keeping with the rest of Huntington Harbour and that it would block views.