HUNTINGTON BEACH : Council Turns Down Closer Quake Study

Despite pleas by several Huntington Harbour residents for a more detailed earthquake-safety study in their area, the Huntington Beach City Council has voted 5 to 2 to take no action on the issue.

The Huntington Harbour residents’ concern centered on a controversial condominium-building project that they contend straddles the Newport-Inglewood seismic fault line. The 36-unit project would be very unsafe in case of an earthquake, according to several Huntington Harbour residents who appeared this week before the City Council.

The project is a twin-tower condominium to be built by Coultrup Development Co. on waterfront land now occupied by the Huntington Harbour Bay Club at 4123 Warner Ave. The City Council, after heated debate, voted 4 to 3 to approve the project in January.

But the issue came up again at the council’s Monday night meeting because the city staff has acknowledged that the location of the Newport-Inglewood fault was not correctly plotted in initial engineering drawings.

State law forbids building within an active fault zone. The city staff told the City Council that part of the proposed condominium project falls into the fault zone. But the staff said the condominiums still can be constructed by cantilevering one part of the foundations.

Councilwoman Grace Winchell, who has opposed the condominium project, urged a more detailed engineering study before construction is allowed to begin. She said lives may be at stake because of errors in plotting the quake zone.

Councilman Peter M. Green supported Winchell, but the other five members of the council voted to take no new action on the project. Mayor Thomas J. Mays noted that the project already is facing a civil lawsuit from residents in Huntington Harbour who are trying to block its construction.