Southeast coastal redevelopment plans move forward

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- City officials and residents have revisited plans

to spruce up a 266-acre parcel between Beach Boulevard and Magnolia

Street just east of Pacific Coast Highway in hopes of clarifying steps

required to redevelop the area.

“We’re at the very initial phase of redevelopment, which can be

stopped at any time,” said Carol Runzel, an assistant project manager

with the city’s Economic Development Department. “Our goal was to meet

with residents discuss the process with which a redevelopment plan will

follow and hear their concerns.”

City officials have drawn up a preliminary plan for redeveloping the

parcel, dubbed the Southeast Coastal Redevelopment Project. It outlines

the long-term planning goals and policies to clean up the area, as well

as incorporating community comment on the matter.

John Scott, president of the Southeast Huntington Beach Neighborhood

Assn. and one of about 150 people who attended a Jan. 18 meeting at

Edison High School, said much of the concern over the redevelopment plan

revolves around corporate welfare, the project’s estimated timeline and

industrial zoning.

The southeast coastal area includes the AES Corp. power plant, Ascon

landfill, an oil tank farm, mobile home park and undeveloped wetlands. A

study of the area by city consultants found that more than half of the

land is contaminated from industrial uses.

If the city’s Redevelopment Agency ultimately approves a redevelopment

project for the area, it will be eligible for a larger slice of the

property taxes garnered by the land to use for residential development,

environmental cleanup or beautification efforts.

“I think that residents here feel like we suffer the consequences of

living near a lot of industrial uses of the area and we want the

redevelopment money to stay in the area instead of funding improvements

somewhere else, like the [Huntington Center],” Scott said, adding that

the plan stretches over three decades and many residents would like to

see it finished sooner. “But we need to clean up that area, and if this

is the only vehicle to do it, we need to pursue it.”

Gus Duran, the city’s housing and redevelopment manager, said the

preliminary plan serves as a charter for the Redevelopment Agency

governing its responsibilities over the project area.

He said it doesn’t include potential land uses, such as specific

residential or industrial projects, which fall under the jurisdiction of

the city’s general plan.

The Planning Commission reviewed the redevelopment plan Tuesday and is

slated to vote on it next month, when it then moves to the Redevelopment

Agency.