Huntington Beach City Council Wrap

Eron Ben-Yehuda

ISSUE: WATERFRONT PROTEST

Vote: 7-0

Summary: The council unanimously agreed to extend the deadline for the

Mayer Corp. to file a lawsuit protesting the cost of inspection fees for

its development of the Waterfront Hilton expansion. The statute of

limitations would have required the suit be filed by Wednesday.

The developer is challenging about $100,000 of the $137,000 fee the city

charged for inspections.

Both sides want to avoid litigation, a memo dated Monday states.

The company is building a four-story resort hotel with two floors of

underground parking and a 100,000-square-foot conference center. Future

plans call for a residential community of up to 230 homes.

ISSUE: PUBLIC ART ON BEACH

Vote: None

Issue: City Councilwomen Shirley Dettloff and Pam Julien gave the council

an update on the plans to add public art by Pacific Coast Highway and

Beach Boulevard.

Along with Pier Plaza, the public art will “put Huntington Beach on the

map,” Dettloff said.

Three sketches were presented at the meeting. One entitled “Surfhenge”

showed 18-foot columns shaped like surfboards set in a circular pattern.

The other two designs showed mini plazas in the shape of colorful sea

shells. They would create good photo opportunities for visitors, Julien

said.

The plans will be presented to the council for formal approval in the

spring, community services director Ron Hagan said.

ISSUE: HISTORICAL VIDEO

Vote: None

Summary: The council wanted to show off a short video about the history

of Huntington Beach. Producer and local resident David Yrisarri hopes the

preview video will encourage private funding of a full-length

documentary. The city does, too, and waived $1,050 in fees in June to

help him get started.The video shown Monday came out scrambled and

garbled. It was stopped after a few minutes.