HUNTINGTON BEACH : Neighborhood’s Bid for Barricade Denied

A neighborhood’s request for a barricade to block traffic from Huntington Beach Mall into their neighborhood was rejected this week, after other residents said the traffic would only move to their streets.

The city’s Traffic Commission in August had recommended the barricade after residents of Rhone Lane complained that drivers taking a shortcut to the mall crowded their streets.

But people on neighboring streets claimed they would inherit the problem.

The City Council decided to have four-way stop signs installed throughout the tract in hopes of discouraging through traffic.

Timothy J. O’Boyle, a resident of nearby Nancy Drive in the area, said shifting the problems from Rhone to his and his neighbors’ streets “is like throwing your garbage over your neighbor’s fence. The cars aren’t going to go away,” he said.

O’Boyle also warned that the roadblock would slow emergency response times, a contention supported by Fire Chief Michael Dolder and Police Traffic Commander Bruce Kelly.

Kelly said a barricade on Rhone Lane would force police cars to pass Sun View Elementary School to reach parts of the neighborhood.

“This increases the hazards to all concerned and poses an unacceptable risk to both the officers and the schoolchildren,” he said in a report.

However, Clifford Lang, a resident of Rhone Lane for 30 years, had urged the barricade as “a necessary tool to get traffic back on an arterial.”

Traffic Engineer Jim Otterson said drivers turn onto Rhone Lane from Heil Avenue to escape a bottleneck at Heil and Beach Boulevard because there is no left-turn traffic signal at the intersection. A signal is expected to be installed by next summer, he said.

The four stop signs are being placed at Rhone and Nancy Drive, Rhone at Kim Lane, Rhone and Sher Lane, and Volga Drive and Sher.