HUNTINGTON BEACH : CHP Joins War Against PCH Blight

Nancy Howell appears to be making headway in her campaign to clean up a stretch of scenic Pacific Coast Highway that she says has become blighted by an array of vehicles parked illegally along the road.

Some area businesses in the Huntington Harbour and Sunset Beach area use the inland side of the highway as a storage yard for their commercial vehicles, Howell said. Others employ it as a used-car lot with for-sale signs affixed to the merchandise. Some people reportedly pull their motor homes onto the paved area next to the highway and live in them for extended periods.

“It is one of the most beautiful areas in the county and needs to be taken care of,” Howell said. “I’ve seen parts of Tijuana that look better.”

Orange County officials, including Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, met with Howell and other residents earlier this year and called for the California Highway Patrol to take “vigorous enforcement” action. The 1.3-mile section of highway in question, from Warner Avenue to Anderson Street, is in unincorporated Orange County and the jurisdiction of the CHP.

The CHP began to step up action against violators last week, a spokesman said.

Howell, a resident of Huntington Harbour and the owner of a real estate office in Sunset Beach, formed the Save Our Scenic Coastal Highway Committee last November to address the problem.

Orange County traffic engineer Ignacio Ochoa said an inventory of the area taken a month ago showed parking violations that warranted citations and removal.

“Some (vehicles) were parked there for a very, very long time. We could see debris around the tires,” he said.

Ochoa said boats, detached trailers, a motor home and a small school bus that apparently had been retrofitted into a large van were among the vehicles illegally parked on the highway.

He said Caltrans officials agreed to allow an Orange County parking ordinance to be put into force on the state highway.

Restrictions that will be enforced include a 72-hour parking limit, a ban on advertisements on cars parked for more than four hours and a ban on overnight recreational vehicle parking.

Howell said she’s pleased by the regulations but favors a one- to three-hour parking limit. She said the 72-hour limit will allow violators to merely move their vehicles every three days.

Howell said she also wants Orange County to put in curbs, gutters, a new drainage system and landscaping. Supervisors are slated today to consider hiring a consultant to look into that possibility.

Howell said she’s also concerned about speeding cars. The CHP says it plans to use radar to enforce speed limits.

Although Pacific Coast Highway runs through some of the most scenic areas in Orange County, it hasn’t been designated as a scenic highway, though it’s listed on the California State and County Scenic Highways master plan as eligible for that distinction.