Slum Area’s Future May Be Decided Tonight

Like a sore that won’t heal, Huntington Beach’s worst slum is back in the news. Tonight, however, the Huntington Beach City Council may decide the fate of the overcrowded Commodore Circle and its 120 mostly poor families.

City officials hired inspectors to provide intensive code enforcement in order to rid Commodore Circle of rats, roaches, overcrowding and structurally unsafe buildings. They fined and filed criminal complaints against some owners of the collapsing apartment houses that still teem with mostly poor and undocumented residents.

They have offered low-interest loans and other financial incentives to the landlords, which owners have used to spruce up the 20 fourplex apartment buildings in the shadow of the renovated Five Points Shopping Center.

And most recently, the city hammered the crime-ridden neighborhood with undercover drug busts.

“The two biggest problems out there, really, are drugs and day laborers and transients hanging around on the streets,” said Redevelopment Director Pat Spencer, the bureaucrat responsible for the city’s Commodore clean-up drive. “The other problems were a lot easier to solve. There are other places who are still trying to deal with these same situations.”

In a report to the City Council, Community Development Director Douglas LaBelle added: “Many of the problems associated with Commodore Circle are not related to the physical appearance of the area. The social problems must be addressed if this area is to be compatible with the neighborhood.”

Compatible it is not, neighbors of the Commodore Circle cul-de-sac complain. One man, whose apparent point was that the street’s crime is every Huntington Beach resident’s problem, told the City Council he had seen teen-agers openly purchasing drugs during their school lunch hour.

After years of frustrating and expensive attempts to clean the area up, the City Council tonight will consider a more radical approach. A 5:30 p.m. study session on two Commodore Circle proposals will precede the regular 7 p.m. City Council meeting.

Council members will decide whether they want to complete the neighborhood enhancement program for Commodore Circle launched in 1985 or abandon it and create a city housing authority with the power to condemn the properties so a senior housing community could be built.

It will be an important meeting for other reasons.

Following a public hearing, the City Council also will be considering the final approval of The Waterfront, a $350-million Mediterranean-style resort and condo development proposed for the northwest corner of Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway--a project the Planning Commission already endorsed.

The Commodore enhancement program was approved by the City Council and funded with $450,000 in community development block grants that have helped add landscaping, sidewalks and other public improvements to the cul-de-sac just west of Main Street and Beach Boulevard. An addition to this plan would add $33,000 to the program for hiring an on-site manager to police compliance with rental agreements and housing codes.

The second proposal would cost more money--about $8 million--but might ultimately be cheaper, said Redevelopment Director Pat Spencer. It would also spell the abolishment of the low-income apartment houses.

“It is important to note that the city will benefit from this project by reducing the current high level of city services provided to this area,” Community Development Director Douglas LaBelle wrote in his analysis of the seniors project for the City Council. “Currently, police, planning (zoning), and housing and redevelopment have spent a significant and disproportionate amount of time in the Commodore Circle neighborhood.”

The seniors plan would require the creation of a city housing authority that would have the power to condemn the apartment buildings. Then, the city would spend an estimated $480,000 to relocate the 120 families now living in the 80 apartments and build a senior housing community. LaBelle’s report estimates it would cost the city about $7 million to buy the 20 apartment houses and a recreation lot on the property, and suggested that $1.58 million from the General Fund be used to acquire the parcels.

During the past two months the residents of two condominium associations abutting Commodore Circle have expressed continuing concerns regarding problems in the area. The residents beseeched the City Council to do something to clean up the neighborhood.

To date, previous efforts have included rehabilitating existing units--work that is nearly completed. Property owners have borrowed a total of $561,021 to fix 17 of the 20 buildings. All owners have signed license and maintenance agreements, guaranteeing to maintain all improvements built on their property.

New walkways, landscaping entry walls and asphalt paving and other public improvements worth $210,000 have been planned and the money earmarked for a contractor pending city approval to do the work.

Completion of the public improvement work is to be followed by landscaping improvements like grass, trees and masonry fencing along the perimeter of the neighborhood. Owners would be responsible for the work but would receive some financial assistance from the city.

During July, Huntington Beach narcotics officers made 19 felony drug arrests on Commodore Circle, and aggressive patrols would be continued. Residents of the condominiums that flank Commodore have said they feel threatened by the day laborers who hang out at the corner of Commodore Circle and Delaware Street in search of jobs. The largest group congregates in the morning, and Spencer said 90% of them do not live in the neighborhood. INS agents have made two sweeps this month alone through Commodore Circle, Spencer said.