HUNTINGTON BEACH : City Delays Plans to Build Beach Parking

The City Council has postponed plans to construct a 300-space beach parking lot while city attorneys evaluate whether a new slow-growth law will require citywide voter approval of the project.

The proposed lot below the ocean bluffs between 11th and Golden West streets is supposed to compensate for some of the metered street parking that will be lost by the widening of Pacific Coast Highway.

As a condition of its approval of the widening project between Beach Boulevard and Golden West Street, the state Coastal Commission has required the city to provide new parking in the beach area.

To date, plans for the new parking have been delayed by the city’s removal of some remaining oil wells from the site and decisions on how to pay for the project, which is estimated to cost $415,000. Having cleared those hurdles, the city now might have to go to the voters before moving ahead, officials said last week.

Measure C, a city charter amendment that voters overwhelmingly approved last November, requires voter approval before the city can sell or lease any park or beach property for a project costing more than $100,000.

Some developments are exempt from the new law--such as any project to which the city is bound under an existing contract--which might include the planned beach parking lot.

City Atty. Gail C. Hutton told the City Council last week that her staff is reviewing the parking lot proposal to determine if it is subject to the new charter provision.

Council members decided to postpone a proposal last week to allocate the money for the project.

City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga said that if the parking lot requires voter approval, he will advise the council to devise a ballot referendum that would combine the proposal with the funding request and other preliminary administrative steps.

“We may want to discuss later how we are going to handle processes like this,” given the requirements of Measure C, Uberuaga said.

Similarly, the new law is expected to apply to a youth sports complex proposed for Huntington Central Park and another beach-area parking lot planned for the former Terry Buick dealership at 5th Street and Walnut Avenue.

That lot, coupled with the one proposed at the foot of the bluffs, would offset the 521 street parking spaces that will be lost by the widening of Pacific Coast Highway, officials said.