HUNTINGTON BEACH : Council Votes Down Condo Development

The City Council voted 4 to 2 on Monday night to scuttle a developer’s plan for a condominium project that would have included affordable units for moderate-income families.

Residents of the proposed area, near Beach Boulevard and Talbert Avenue, protested that the city had changed the zoning for the project. They noted that the old zoning was for senior-citizen housing but that the city had changed the designation to allow high-density, affordable housing.

In return for the zoning change, the builder had promised to offer 82 of the proposed 135 units of Sea View Village as affordable housing.

Eighteen residents of the targeted area spoke against the proposed housing project. Many of them said it would lower property values and increase crime and traffic.

Councilwoman Grace Winchell said she had “a great mixture of feelings” about the project. Noting that Huntington Beach needs more affordable housing, she praised the city staff for working toward that goal.

But she said that Sea View Village would put too much into a relatively small area. “If we’re going to do affordable housing, we can’t do so much in one chunk,” she said.

Councilmen Jim Silva and Peter M. Green and Mayor Thomas J. Mays also spoke against the proposed project. Silva said he worried about crime problems with high-density housing, and Mays said he favored returning to the zoning for senior-citizen residences.

Councilmen John Erskine and Don MacAllister pleaded with the rest of the council to grant the developer more time for some changes. “I’m concerned about throwing out the baby with the bath water,” MacAllister said.

Green, however, said, “I don’t think we can amend this project in any way to make it acceptable.”

Silva, Green, Mays and Winchell voted against the project, and Erskine and MacAllister voted for it. Councilman Wes Bannister, who was a candidate for state insurance commissioner in Tuesday’s election, was not at the council meeting.