Infrastructure committee may miss self-imposed deadline

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The city’s infrastructure committee said it probably

won’t meet its self-imposed December deadline for getting recommendations

to the City Council.

“The more we learn, the longer this process is going to take,” committee

chairman Dick Harlow said.

The committee has spent more than a year studying everything from sewers

and sidewalks to streets and storm drains. Because the problems are so

complex, the group probably won’t be able to finish its work before

March, said Gary Drysard, a consultant for the city.

The group met last week to discuss how to finance the replacement of

crumbling or damaged walls throughout the city.

The city owns 68 miles of block walls that stand adjacent to public

sidewalks along arterial streets such as Slater and Talbert avenues, said

Don Noble, the city’s maintenance manager. Over the years, the walls have

deteriorated, and the committee blamed some of that wear and tear on

adjacent private owners who have built against and on top of them.

Many committee members agreed those property owners should pay for at

least part of the estimated $32 million required to replace the walls.

“The responsibility is clearly there,” committee member Chuck Scheid

said.

One way to charge these property owners would be through an assessment,

which requires voter approval, Dysard said.

The ownership of these walls could be transferred to the adjacent

property owners, who would then be responsible for its maintenance,

Harlow said.

Block walls are only a small part of the city’s infrastructure, which

will require an estimated $1.3 billion in repairs over the next 20 years.