HUNTINGTON BEACH : Talbert Avenue to Be Cut for Library Lot

Despite protests by two City Council members, a council majority this week agreed to eliminate a stretch of Talbert Avenue to make way for a new library parking lot.

Talbert will be cut between Golden West and Gothard streets, where a 705-space parking lot will be built to accommodate the Huntington Central Library expansion.

The new lot will include 252 more parking spaces than the existing facility, and may be expanded southward if additional spaces are needed.

The design of the lot will allow emergency vehicles to pass. It will also enable the city to discontinue maintenance required on that stretch of Talbert, which costs about $30,000 per year, City Engineer Robert Eichblatt said.

The street runs over a former county landfill, so the earth beneath it is an unstable mix of materials, including up to 60 feet of refuse atop a vast layer of peat.

As a result, the street is constantly sinking and cracking in spots. And, a proposal to widen Talbert to four lanes would cost an exorbitant amount because of the unstable ground, Eichblatt said.

Because of the changes, the city has asked the County Board of Supervisors to remove Talbert from its list of arterial streets. County staff members have said they will recommend the change.

But Mayor Jim Silva and Councilman Don MacAllister strongly denounced the move, arguing that the city should retain the option of one day expanding the street.

At one point during an hourlong presentation by city staff members, MacAllister interrupted and remarked sharply: “I’m disturbed that staff has spent so much time trying to force this down our throat . . . asking us to close a street.”

City Traffic Engineer Jim Otterson said he believes that Talbert’s parallel streets, Slater and Ellis avenues, can easily handle the traffic overflow from Talbert. About 5,300 vehicles each day use that portion of Talbert, a third of which are library patrons, Otterson said.

Silva, however, said he believes motorists prefer Talbert over the alternate routes and that eliminating a street is shortsighted. “We need more streets in Huntington Beach, not fewer,” he said.

Councilwoman Grace Winchell led the majority, however, in backing the staff’s recommendation to eliminate the stretch of Talbert. Noting that Talbert dead-ends at Golden West, she said there is little reason to consider expanding it into a major thoroughfare.

“It grates on us to delete a street from a larger circulation pattern,” she said. “But in this case, where it doesn’t go anywhere, and where it’s used as a service road for a primary use in the area, it makes sense.”

The $7-million library expansion, due to get under way next year, will include an enlarged children’s section and computer room, and will add meeting rooms and an auditorium-theater to the facility.