HB Neighbors

Triangle Park has been a city park for its entire history of almost 100 years.

Because of what we believe was an administrative oversight, it was not until very recently, listed on the HB City park inventory list. It was deeded to the city in 1912 as a park by the Huntington Beach Company and was named Triangle Park at that time. 

Please come to the meeting and show your support for the park to remain Triangle Park.  Triangle Park is being treated as a new park, but it has been a park for 99 years and we do not wish to have it renamed.

SUBJECT: Park Naming – 525 Main Street

If you are unable to attend please write to the city and express that you support the historic name “Triangle Park”.  ddominguez@surfcity-hb.org

Public Meeting Notice Park Naming 03 17 11

The City asserts (page 32 of its opposition brief) that all additional Police personnel, needed to support development permitted by the New Downtown Plan, “‘can be absorbed within existing staffing levels.’”

Downtown’s current number of alcohol-serving establishments is approaching forty, an over-saturation of bars.  The Existing Downtown Plan allowed for these 140,000 square feet of restaurants and bars.  When combined with Pacific City, the New Downtown Plan will permit an additional 140,000+ square feet of new restaurants and bars, an absolute doubling of space for these potentially problematic uses.  Thus, we could see two times as many bars as we have today, a future number in the range of eighty total.

Will Police staffing remain adequate in our Downtown, with the plans for doubling the number of bars?  You be the Judge.

The City of HB responded to HBN’s opening brief (you can see the City’s reply by clicking here).

In a nutshell, the City disagreed with our position and sited various legal arguments that include they did a “credible” analysis of the impacts and worked with the residents to develop the downtown plan. We are in the process of finishing our final response which is due later this month and then we head to court which is scheduled for Thursday March 17th. Ultimately it will be a judge who decides if it was proper.

We thank you for your continued support. The Huntington Beach Neighbors organization has grown to over 2000 members that include residents, property owners and business owners. We all foster a vision to make downtown a safe place that we are proud of.

Pages from the Updated DTSP regarding the Library use

The attached three pages are from the Updated DTSP prepared after the Nov 2nd City Council vote.  I was personally assured by Mayor Cathy Green that there would be a 99 seat MAXIMUM theater size in allowed uses. No such wording is included in the pages that address use of the site in the final DTSP. I hope this was an oversight. Please read them for yourself and YOU BE THE JUDGE!

3) Permitted Uses a) Figure 3-36 presents uses permitted within Subdistrict 1A. The table details permitted uses. Other cultural facility-related uses that have the same parking demand as the existing use not specified herein, as well as a change of use, may be allowed subject to the approval of the Director.

Do we want the power to change the use of the Main Street Library to be left up to the “Director”?  A city employee!  Don’t we want it to at least go to the City Council for approval or even better to the citizens for a vote.  Is that what everyone was supporting in the fight to save the library?  Is this a victory?

Richardson Gray Wrote: 

In addition to the possibility of a large live performance venue (community theater), with a size of as much as 25,000 SF, which could support 700 seats, and in addition to the Director of Planning’s unfettered power to change the use at the Main Street Library and Triangle Park, the newly adopted Downtown Specific Plan allows an unlimited amount of parking to be built at the library and park, in both aboveground and underground structures. Despite the HBDRA leaders’ confidence that the City will not do anything at the park and library to which downtown residents would object, I find the language regarding the library and park in the new Downtown Specific Plan unacceptable. Given that this plan is a 20+ year planning document, it is likely that none of the current HBDRA leaders will be around to protect the downtown residents from the City’s plans for the library and park in the long-term . It is for these reasons that I am strongly supporting HB Neighbors lawsuit against the City, challenging the Downtown Specific Plan concerning the library and park, and other issues as well. I encourage all downtown residents to give all of the money that they can afford, to support the HB Neighbors litigation. That is what I am doing. Without broad resident opposition, I fear that the City will continue to expand the downtown commercial district at the expense of the quality of life for all downtown residents.

See the updated plan that the City Council approved on November 2, 2009.

DTSP Update Book I 120209

DTSP Update Book II 120109.

We came across this June email / document called Business Attraction Recommendations by Kellee Fritzal. We believe the HB Economic Development Dept. buried these recommendations. It is alleged that she did present some to the City Council, but not these. It rebukes the portrayal that the residents and business owners helped shape the Downtown Specific Plan. The reality is that City Council did not have an opportunity to view the input provided by 60 residents and business owners on a committee the City formed with 3 Council members. These were voted upon and approved, except #6, with many City people in attendance. It is reported that some City Council members and Planning Commissioners were not aware of  all of its contents before voting.

Even those in the City Council and Planning Comission agree that there are problems with the DTSP and or EIR.  See the Jill Hardy Appeal here.