HUNTINGTON BEACH : City Hires Firm for Oak View Overhaul
As part of redevelopment plans to revitalize the deteriorating Oak View area, the city has hired an engineering firm to overhaul half of the neighborhood’s streets.
The city Redevelopment Agency will pay Walden & Associates $104,300 to prepare plans and cost estimates for the work to be done in the north half of the Oak View area. Additional costs will bring the design budget to $115,000.
The 70-acre area targeted for the improvements includes Oak Lane, Ash and Elm streets, and Cypress and Sycamore avenues.
The streets currently have no curbs, gutters or sidewalks. They have inadequate drainage, are poorly graded and are in a state of disrepair. Some of the streets will need to be entirely replaced, and the others will have to be almost completely overhauled, city officials said.
In addition to those needed improvements, the storm drain system needs to be renovated and updated. The project will also include improvement plans to connect Elm Street and Keelson Lane, tentatively scheduled as the next step in the redevelopment effort.
The Oak View area, near Beach Boulevard and Warner Avenue, includes a combination of aging single-family homes and hundreds of apartments. The neighborhood has badly decayed in recent years and is among the city’s most crime-ridden areas.
In an effort to stem the neighborhood’s decline, it was declared a redevelopment project area in September, 1982.
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