HUNTINGTON BEACH : Upkeep of 2 Roads to Be Returned to State

To avoid potential lawsuits, the city is returning responsibility to the state for maintaining two state roads, Pacific Coast Highway and Beach Boulevard, where they pass through the city.

The City Council on Wednesday unanimously voted to end a 24-year agreement between the city and state. That pact, first signed in 1970, allowed the city autonomy in maintaining the two busy thoroughfares. The state, under the agreement, has reimbursed the city for the cost of the highway maintenance.

But the state has repeatedly refused to assume legal responsibility for the two roads within the city. City Atty. Gail Hutton on Wednesday night warned the council that Huntington Beach could face ruinous lawsuits if someone successfully sued while alleging faulty roads as the cause of their accidents.

In a memo to the council, Hutton said the city in 1983 had to pay an $85,000 judgment to one bicyclist who hit a pothole on Beach Boulevard and who successfully sued. Last year, Hutton said, the city fortunately avoided what she called a “near catastrophic loss” in a $29-million lawsuit brought by another bicyclist who was injured on Pacific Coast Highway in the city. A jury ruled against the bicyclist in that case, but nonetheless the city wound up paying $345,459 in litigation costs, Hutton said.

The council action Wednesday directed that a letter immediately be sent to the state to end the maintenance agreement. The city-state agreement allows either side to unilaterally drop the pact with 30 days’ written notice.

“The city of Huntington Beach must have been absolutely insane (in 1970) to sign that contract,” Councilman Victor Leipzig said. “It leaves us open to such liability.”