HUNTINGTON BEACH : Action Delayed on Street-Closing Plan

City Council members last week postponed action on a proposal to convert a section of Talbert Avenue into a library parking lot while they solicit public opinion on the plan.

An architect designing a $7-million Huntington Central Library expansion has proposed that the strip of Talbert running in front of the facility be replaced with an enlarged parking lot.

City staff members had recommended that the council approve the parking lot plan last week so construction could begin by February. Council members, however, agreed to delay the project for four months to allow public hearings on the issue.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing on the issue on Oct. 15, and the council’s hearing is tentatively planned for Nov. 4.

If the council approves the move, the street removal would still require approval by the County Board of Supervisors because Talbert Avenue is a county arterial street, and as such has been designated for widening in the future.

As proposed, the new parking lot design would enable patrons to walk from their cars to the library without crossing Talbert Avenue. The existing parking lot is bisected by the street, which ends at its nearby junction with Golden West Street.

Widening the street could pose a problem, however, because it is built atop an unstable pile of peat and rubbish from a former county landfill, City Engineer Robert Eichblatt said. The street has already sunk and cracked because of the unsettled earth, and the problem would worsen if the street were widened, he said.

Council members said they did not oppose the parking lot proposal, and Orange County staff members have also backed the plan to abandon the present parking area on the other side of Talbert Avenue. County officials agreed with city planners’ conclusion that library patrons create most of the traffic on that section of the street, so changing it into a library parking lot would have little effect on the city’s traffic circulation, Eichblatt said.

Nonetheless, council members said they did not want to approve the plan without first hearing residents’ comments.

In the meantime, the council agreed to consider the architect’s plans for the library. Council members are scheduled to consider formal plans for the building design on Oct. 7. Plans include a children’s library wing and a permanent home for the Huntington Beach Playhouse.