Next step set in Balboa renovation

June Casagrande

After 10 years of waiting, officials and residents banking on

Balboa Village renovations to give the area a much-needed shot in the

arm will soon see the earth move.

City Council members on Tuesday approved a $2.8-million contract

with Hillcrest Construction to perform the second phase of the

three-part renovation for the area.

While the contractor has not yet set a date to begin work,

Assistant City Manager Sharon Wood said, time is of the essence.

“We have to finish by summer, according to the coastal development

permit conditions, but we also have to accommodate traffic for the

boat parade. So beginning the work soon means we will be better

prepared for the boat parade,” Wood said.

This phase of the project, funded largely with Community

Development Block Grant money, will mean new street pavement,

sidewalks, landscaping, street furniture and street lighting on Main

Street from Pier Plaza to the Balboa Pavilion; on Washington and Palm

Streets from Oceanfront to Balboa Boulevard; and on Oceanfront from A

Street to Adams Street. Workers will likely tear up one side of the

street at a time to allow traffic to use the other side.

The fate of two ficus trees remaining on Main Street is still in

the court’s hands.

On Sept. 18, the city played its trump card in its battle with the

Balboa Arbor Society over 25 ficus trees there: An early-morning work

crew cut down 23 of the 25 trees before a court injunction called a

stop to the work. Arbor society President Linda Grant has since asked

council members to consider leaving the trees or replanting them in a

city park, but City Manager Homer Bludau said the trees probably

wouldn’t survive replanting.

Phase One of the village project was completed at the end of May

and included the reconstruction of Balboa Boulevard, renovation of

both piers and resurfacing of the Balboa Pier Parking lot and the

pier plaza area. The cost of the first phase was about $4.5 million.

Mayor Tod Ridgeway has said the work is crucial to reviving a

“dying village.”