Strand may go before residents by end of March

Bryce Alderton

Residents may be able to study the proposed face-lift of a two-block

area of Downtown by the end of the month, city planners said.

An Environmental Impact Report for the The Strand project is expected

to be completed by the end of March and will be followed by a 45-day

public comment period, said city planner Jane James.

If approved the project will revamp a prominent section of Downtown

hemmed in by Main Street, Pacific Coast Highway, Walnut and 5th avenues.

The Strand is a proposed commercial project that will have retail

stores, offices, restaurants and a 149-room hotel.

After the 45-day review period, the proposal will go to the planning

commission for approval in late June or early July, James said.

Barring any appeals, the project does not have to be forwarded to the

City Council, she said.

The proposed project covers almost 232,000 square feet, about half of

which includes the 149-room hotel.

Plans to redevelop the two-block stretch have been met with opposition

from some residents and Downtown business owners who don’t want

Huntington Beach to lose its “small town atmosphere.”

Business owners have also raised questions about having enough parking

spaces Downtown for the new shops and offices.

An two-level underground parking structure with 403 parking spaces,

valet service and an attendant ticket booth will be built if the project

goes forward.

Last year the group, Citizens Against Redevelopment, challenged the

deal between the city and the developer, CIM, on three legal points. In

November the court ruled in favor of the city on two disclosure issues

and in favor of citizen’s group that a state debt-limitation law was

violated.

The ruling forced the city to either scale back the project or kill it

all together. But the project is still expected to go forward, said David

Biggs, the city’s director of economic development.