Hilltop Plans Could Delay Holly-Seacliff : Development: Still unresolved is whether to build at Huntington Beach’s highest point. A privacy feud could imperil accord on project.

Despite the City Council’s approval of the massive Holly-Seacliff development late Monday, controversy remains over a planned hilltop project in the development and will delay construction another two months.

The council late Monday approved developing 569 acres of the 780-acre mixed-use development, which will include 4,410 homes, an industrial area and a shopping center. But specific plans are unresolved for Reservoir Hill, which stands at the center of the lingering feud.

City staff members will hold community meetings and study that area further before the council considers final approval for the development in about two months.

Some homeowners are concerned that the mixed-used development planned on Reservoir Hill will provide views into their back yards. The alternative is to level the hill--the highest point in the city--which some residents and council members argue the city should preserve.

The council in 1990 approved the 111-acre first phase of the Holly-Seacliff project--composed of 480 homes in an area bounded by Ellis and Garfield avenues and Golden West and Edwards streets. Those homes are now under construction.

Council members, after more than four hours of discussion and public comments, approved most of the remaining development Monday with a 5-1 vote.

Holly-Seacliff, the largest remaining undeveloped area in Huntington Beach, will include 4,410 homes, ranging from $150,000 condominiums to $800,000 estates. Of the housing, 15% will be designated for residents earning $52,000 to $62,000, to help the city meet its affordable-housing requirements.

The project will also include an 11-acre shopping center, a 54-acre industrial area, the expansion of the Seacliff Village shopping center and new parks. Included will be 41 acres for the long-delayed, 109-acre Bolsa Chica Linear Regional Park, which will run along the western edge of the project on the bluffs between Talbert Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway.

The major developer is Seacliff Partners, which owns about 85% of the property in the Holly-Seacliff area. Seacliff Partners is made up of Urban West Communities in Santa Monica and Pacific Coast Homes, a subsidiary of the Huntington Beach Co.

The project consumed four years of intense planning among city staff members, the City Council, the Planning Commission, a school district and Seacliff Partners.

But the planning process continues for 53 acres, including Reservoir Hill, extending north from Yorktown Avenue between Golden West and Main streets.

The mixed-used development, as planned, will allow office buildings as tall as 55 feet, plus projections above the building tops.

Reservoir Hill--east of Golden West Street at Clay Avenue--stands about 125 feet above sea level and 50 feet above street level. Existing homes west of the hill are built at the bottom of a slope.

Residents in those homes are concerned that the Reservoir Hill development will allow bird’s-eye peeks into their windows and back yards.

“A towering high-rise on the highest point in Huntington Beach will dominate the city’s skyline,” homeowner Jerri Hesprich told council members Monday. “Consider the invasion of privacy of having hundreds of people looking down into your back yard.”

Hesprich said the problem can be lessened considerably by limiting building height or placing structures farther back from the street. Seacliff Partners has proposed leveling the hill to solve the dilemma.

But some critics, including Councilwoman Grace Winchell, who cast the only dissenting vote Monday, argue that the city’s highest point is a unique and important natural sight that should be preserved.

Holly-Seacliff at a Glance

The project is planned on the largest remaining undeveloped area in Huntington Beach. It will include:

* 4,410 new homes

* 11-acre shopping center

* 54-acre industrial park

* Expansion of Seacliff Village shopping center

* New parks

MAJOR DEVELOPER:

* Seacliff Partners, composed of Urban West Communities in Santa Monica and Pacific Coast Homes, a subsidiary of the Huntington Beach Co.

* Seacliff Partners owns about 85% of development area. The balance belongs to more than a dozen small landowners, including both real estate companies and individuals.

MONDAY’S DEAL:

* City Council approved 569 acres of the 780-acre project.

* A 53-acre parcel, center of a hilltop development controversy, was removed. The council will consider that portion in about two months.

* Balance of the acreage approved in 1990; 480 homes now under construction there.