HUNTINGTON BEACH : Funding Decision on Pier Postponed

The City Council has deferred for three months a decision on how to finance $1 million in construction costs for three commercial buildings planned for the new Municipal Pier.

At issue are a cafe to be built at the pier’s end, and a snack shop and combination snack and bait shop to constructed at mid-pier. The new pier will be officially opened in a three-day celebration starting July 17, but the only structures on it will be a temporary lifeguard tower and a temporary restroom building.

The three commercial buildings are scheduled to be constructed on the new pier by the summer of 1993. But so far, the City Council has not agreed on how to pay for the buildings.

City staff had recommended that the council use money from bonds to finance the commercial structures on the pier. The staff said the bonds could be retired by revenue the city gets from the cafe and snack shops.

But the council at its meeting Monday night voted to postpone action on the funding question for at least 90 days.

City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga said Tuesday that the council deferred the proposal because “they want to look at options” other than a bond issue. Uberuaga said the council also wanted to see how city financing will be impacted after the state Legislature passes a new state budget for the current fiscal year.

Uberuaga said the postponement does not mean the cafe and snack shops are in jeopardy. “This in no way means the buildings are not going to be built,” he said.