HUNTINGTON BEACH : Court Rejects Plea to Block Condos

An Orange County Superior Court judge has ruled against an attempt by three Huntington Harbour residents to halt completion of a controversial condominium project in that waterfront community.

The residents, Barbara Devlin, Joseph Scheitzach and John Kerkes, had filed suit against the city and Coultrup Development Co., which is building a 36-unit, four-story condominium on the waterfront near Warner Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway.

The suit claimed that the condo project is unsafe and violates state law because it is being constructed over an active earthquake fault. The development company, which has almost completed work on the condos, denied the charge.

Superior Court Judge Robert D. Monarch on Tuesday ruled that the residents had failed to prove their case, and he denied their plea that the construction permit for the condos be revoked.

Coultrup Development Co. President Jonathan Coultrup said he was pleased with the ruling. “We’ve been upheld at every level, including the California Coastal Commission,” he said. “Now we just want to finish this project and be a good neighbor.”

Devlin said Wednesday that she is disappointed by the ruling, adding that she and the other residents had not decided whether to appeal.

“The judge said that the city had made many mistakes with this project along the way,” Devlin said. “We (residents) think it’s a burden for the people of a city to have to check back on what a city does with projects like this. We should be able to depend on the city to do a correct job.”