HUNTINGTON BEACH : Council Majority Backs Building Plan

Despite objections from two members, a City Council majority this week informally endorsed the design for the new Jack’s Surfboards building although the plans include a fourth-story tower that the council had not previously approved.

The council has yet to officially vote on the new design, but five council members said they generally support it.

The venerable 70-year-old building that housed Jack’s Surfboards on Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway was demolished this summer after structural faults appeared last December. Owner Mike Abdelmuti agreed to rebuild the building as a joint project with the Redevelopment Agency.

An owner-participation agreement worked out this summer between the agency and Abdelmuti set maximum dimensions for the new structure and requires the site to include a public plaza. That agreement, settled after months of negotiations, states that the building be no taller than three stories.

Abdelmuti’s new plans, however, call for the structure to include a fourth-story tower. It would house Abdelmuti’s 3,500-square-foot office, and its exterior would feature large clocks that could be seen from the beach.

Council members supporting the new plans said that after viewing drawings of the proposed structure, they like the new design and are willing to accept the additional floor. They agreed with Abdelmuti’s assertion that the tower, coupled with the one that now tops the Pierside Pavilion center across the street, will create a gateway-like entrance from the pier onto Main Street.

“To have the building on one side short and the other tall . . . doesn’t look balanced,” Councilman Don MacAllister said. “I like the looks of this building. It’s greatly updated.”

Councilman Jack Kelly agreed, saying the design of the new building has “evolved” since the agency’s negotiations with Abdelmuti.

But Councilwomen Linda Moulton-Patterson and Grace Winchell sharply criticized the new plans, charging that their colleagues are permitting Abdelmuti to blatantly disregard key tenets of the long-negotiated agreement.

“We negotiated an agreement, in which it was very clear what the square footage would be and how it would look, and there was a lot of give and take on both sides,” Winchell said. “But even after we finally get it nailed down, we don’t stick to it. I think it’s absolutely wrong.”

Moulton-Patterson said she considers it “outrageous” that Abdelmuti proposed a fourth story in the face of an agreement limiting the structure to three stories.

“I can’t see justifying this just because the building across the street is high,” she said. “I can’t see repeating the same mistake.”

Abdelmuti’s proposal also calls for a 912-square-foot public plaza, although the agreement requires the plaza to be at least 1,000 square feet. Council members, however, said they will insist that the full size of the plaza be maintained.