HUNTINGTON BEACH : Major New Projects to Get More Analysis

At the request of Councilwoman Grace Winchell and community activists, City Council members this week voted to allow themselves and the public more time to analyze key planning documents for major developments.

The council unanimously agreed to establish a 30-day review period before adopting development agreements and other such city-developer pacts. Under current policy, residents and council members typically have no more than three days to study those documents, which outline the details of a development that will impact large sections of the city.

Development agreements, for example, detail planning restrictions the city will impose or waive in exchange for trade-offs from the developer, such as land or money for public works improvements.

“A development agreement can be fairly complex,” Winchell said. “There is a lot of money and land involved, which has an impact on the whole community. And each one is unique and special, so the previous reading of others will not prepare you for this particular one.”

Winchell said she decided to push for the review period largely because of the city’s recently completed development agreements for the sprawling Holly-Seacliff project, the former Meadowlark Airport development and the first phase of the massive Waterfront project on Pacific Coast Highway.

She said each of those pacts was “extremely complex,” and she believes that the city may have acquired more appealing agreements if officials and residents had more time to analyze them. Each of those agreements also was met with residents’ opposition.

Among the upcoming major developments that will require such an agreement is the Bolsa Chica annexation project, now in the planning stages.

The new policy, which takes effect next month, will also apply to redevelopment projects.