Beach cities at odds over bonfire ban
An ongoing fight over beach bonfires pitted the interests of two neighboring cities Thursday, as Huntington Beach residents asked South Coast Air Quality Management District staff members to drop a proposed rule change that could lead to a ban on beach bonfires in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
“There must be other ways to manage [beach burning] without outright banning it,” said Huntington Beach resident and preservationist Mary Urashima.
Some Newport Beach residents have pushed for the fire rings at beaches in Corona del Mar and Balboa to be removed, saying the smoke sometimes is so thick that it sets off fire alarms in homes.
On Thursday, district officials let the public sound off on the issue in advance of a possible May 3 vote on the ban. The change would add beach burning to a list of prohibited open-burning activities.
Numerous Huntington Beach residents and city officials said that eliminating fire rings from Orange County beaches would take a big bite out of coastal tourism dollars, and that the proposed ban on open burning on all beaches in the district’s jurisdiction would be like taking a sledgehammer to an issue requiring a fine-tooth comb.
“People don’t go to the beach in the evening to sun tan,” said Dianne Thompson, chairwoman of the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce, citing an estimated $1-million loss just in beach parking revenue after 3 p.m. “This would impact us more than any community.”
More than half of the more than 800 fire rings that would be affected fall within Huntington Beach city limits.
Outnumbered were Newport Beach residents who first proposed removing fire rings at beaches in Corona del Mar and Balboa. The residents asked air quality officials Thursday to consider the negative health effects of wood smoke, which have been cited as the basis of the district’s other wood-burning restrictions.
“The Coastal Commission called [fire rings] a low-cost amenity,” said Frank Peters, a Corona del Mar resident. “Of course, the true cost isn’t borne by the people who come for a night’s enjoyment. It’s borne by long-term residents.”
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