HUNTINGTON BEACH : Candidate Chided on ‘Illegal’ Building

Planning Commissioner Barry Williams said Monday that the city should cut off utility service to a downtown office used by former City Administrator Paul Cook because the building does not have the necessary city permits.

The building, a former residence at 306 3rd St. and once used as a doctor’s office, is shared by Cook and Jonathan Chodos, the proposed developer for the city’s Pierside Village project. Cook is a candidate for one of the four City Council seats to be filled in the Nov. 6 election.

City officials on Monday said the structure has not been issued a conditional-use permit and certificate of occupancy necessary for use as a business building. But they said the landlord, California Resorts, has applied for such permits.

Williams said Cook and Chodos should be removed from the building until the permit situation is resolved.

“This means they’re using that building illegally and they’re violating city laws,” said Williams. “It’s particularly bad to see someone who’s running for the City Council, and who must swear to uphold the laws of the city, to be violating the laws even before elected.”

Cook, who is now a private consultant, said Monday that the landlord is seeking the necessary permits and that he has fulfilled his responsibility by obtaining a business license.

On Monday, Chodos said he was unaware that the building lacked necessary permits when he moved in.

“That’s the responsibility of the landlord,” Chodos said.

Chodos hopes to build two or more new restaurants on the ocean side of Pacific Coast Highway at Main Street, a project known as Pierside Village. The project has drawn intense opposition from some environmental groups.

Cook has been criticized by some in the environmental groups for “being allied with Chodos.”

But Cook said Monday that he is only sharing a building with Chodos and has no business connection to him or anyone else in downtown redevelopment.

“All of my business is outside of Huntington Beach,” Cook said.