HUNTINGTON BEACH : Council Considering Holly-Seacliff Pact

The City Council on Monday night began deliberations on a proposed Holly-Seacliff development agreement with the Huntington Beach Co., the city’s largest and most influential landowner. No vote was taken, and discussion will be continued at a special council meeting next Monday.

Holly-Seacliff is a 750-acre area in the northwest part of the city. It is one of the few undeveloped big tracts remaining in the city, and the Huntington Beach Co. owns about 90% of it.

Critics of the Huntington Beach Co. have charged that the big landowner is seeking to rush through an agreement with the council before three new council members are elected Nov. 6. Three incumbent councilmen, Thomas J. Mays, John Erskine and Wes Bannister, who have generally supported Huntington Beach Co. proposals in the past, are not seeking reelection. Some slow-growth candidates hope to win those vacant council seats.

Bill Holman, project manager for the Huntington Beach Co., conceded that the firm does want to secure a development agreement before the current council members leave office.

“We wouldn’t call it ‘rushing’ an agreement, but we are interested in working with this council because it’s familiar with the overall plans,” Holman said. “We’d like to get this squared away before a new council comes on, because this existing council has worked with us on such things as the Linear Park.”

The proposed Bolsa Chica Linear Park borders the Holly-Seacliff area, and one of the features of the development agreement is that the Huntington Beach Co. would donate 41 acres to the park in exchange for the city’s approval of the development. The city would be asked to guarantee that Pacific Coast Homes, a subsidiary of the Huntington Beach Co., would be able to proceed with its development in Holly-Seacliff for the next 15 years.