HUNTINGTON BEACH : Main Street Will Receive Overhaul

The City Council this week approved $630,000 in cosmetic and public utility improvements through the Main Street business district.

The “streetscape” overhaul will extend along Main Street from Pacific Coast Highway to Acacia Avenue, the heart of the city’s downtown redevelopment area.

The improvements will include decorative concrete crosswalks, landscaping, public rest areas, new lighting, street repaving, new sidewalks and refurbishing of utilities.

The project is considered a key element of the redevelopment effort, designed to spruce up the area and give it a distinctive new style and appeal.

Downtown merchants have long pushed for the improvements, saying they are vital to reverse their sagging sales. Business has suffered in the area for several years, which merchants attribute to the ongoing reconstruction of the Municipal Pier, other construction projects going on in the area and other factors.

The merchants recently called for a portion of $10 million in unused bond money to be used for the downtown improvements. They opposed City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga’s recommended plan for the bond money because it did not include completing the improvements.

In defusing that controversy, however, Uberuaga and council members promised to use other funds and complete the improvements.

To pay for the project, council members agreed to use money from a city land sale.

City officials said they expect the Main Street face lift to get under way in January, and to be completed by July.