HUNTINGTON BEACH : Pierside Village Plan on Council Agenda

In a move to shield the controversial Pierside Village project from a citizens’ initiative in Tuesday’s election, the City Council majority has put the beach-area development proposal on its agenda for Monday night.

Critics charge that the unexpected move is a deliberate attempt to thwart voters the day before a hotly contested city election.

“I’ve been on the City Council six years, and this is the most deceitful and deceptive move I’ve seen during my years on the council,” said Councilman Peter M. Green, who opposes Pierside Village.

The seven-member council on Monday night is scheduled to decide whether to put the pier-side beach-bluff land into the city’s Redevelopment Agency. That agency, which is run by the City Council, officially is an arm of the state. Thus the Pierside Village project, if made a part of the Redevelopment Agency, would not be subject to the citizens’ initiative, Measure C, which would restrict sale or lease of city-owned beach and parkland unless approved by a citywide vote. One of the primary goals of Measure C, supporters say, is to block Pierside Village.

The Pierside Village project calls for building at least two new restaurants on paved land abutting the beach. The site includes the existing Maxwell’s Restaurant at the municipal pier. Supporters have said Pierside Village would beautify an ugly paved area, while giving people some new oceanfront restaurants.

Critics, including the State Lands Commission, have said that Pierside Village would ruin the city’s ocean view and would encroach on public access to the beach.

For the past year, some environmental and citizens’ groups have worked to stop plans for the project. However, five of the seven council members have consistently supported Pierside Village. The two council opponents of the project have been Green and Councilwoman Grace Winchell.

Green said the five-member council majority is behind the move to put Pierside Village into the Redevelopment Agency--the day before Measure C is decided.

“This is a blatant attempt to circumvent the will of the people,” Green said. “I believe it’s because the developers pushing Pierside Village have taken some polls and found that Measure C is going to pass on Tuesday. So they’re trying to do this to save Pierside Village.”

The five council members who support Pierside Village are Mayor Thomas J. Mays and Councilmen John Erskine, Jim Silva, Wes Bannister and Don MacAllister.

Mays said Tuesday that the proposed move to put Pierside Village under the Redevelopment Agency is “just a housekeeping measure. . . . The project has always been scheduled to be a redevelopment.”

Erskine acknowledged that a vote to put Pierside Village into the Redevelopment Agency would better protect the project from Measure C.

“It would make it potentially more difficult for those who oppose Pierside to subject it to Measure C if Measure C passes,” he said.

Erskine said he still supports Pierside Village but will vote against the move to put the project into the Redevelopment Agency and to change its existing lease.

Winchell, the only incumbent up for reelection Tuesday, is a strong supporter of Measure C. She said she is convinced that most city voters oppose Pierside Village and that Measure C is headed for passage.