HUNTINGTON BEACH : City Compromises on Airport Buildings

The City Council has struck a compromise in a dispute involving the old Meadowlark Airport.

The council unanimously voted Monday night to require the landowners, the Nerio family, to remove most of its remaining buildings within 60 days. But the council also voted to allow the family’s attorney to confer with city staff members on some unclear items in an development agreement.

The Nerios had maintained that the agreement the city had given them was not clear about which buildings had to be removed.

Dick Nerio, one of the landowners, told the council Monday night that he had not been “aware of the city’s problems with this. . . . I thought everything west of Roosevelt Lane (at the airport site) was not a part of this agreement.”

But city staff members told the council that the intent of the development agreement was for virtually all of the buildings to be removed because homeowners around the airport consider them “eyesores.”

During a public hearing Monday night, several residents complained about the shabby look of the landing field. A petition signed by 100 residents also assailed the condition of the airport.

The Nerios eventually plan to build condominiums and commercial shops on the 65 acres.

City staff members had urged the council to find the Nerios in default of the development agreement. But Councilman Earle Robitaille proposed the compromise that allowed the Nerios’ attorneys to clear up some items, and Robitaille’s motion passed, 7 to 0.