Pacific City decision on hold

Jenny Marder

A decision on the 31-acre Pacific City development stalled in the

Planning Commission Tuesday night.

Lengthy discussions on affordable housing, parking, construction,

storm water runoff and cleanup of the land dragged on into early

morning hours and commissioners voted to continue the hearing to a

special meeting on May 5.

Plans for Pacific City, which would stretch along the coast and be

bordered by Atlanta Avenue, Huntington and First streets, call for

516 homes, a luxury hotel, shops, restaurants and offices.

“It’s a huge project and it is complicated,” Planning Commissioner

Tom Livengood said. “The general public has done an excellent job and

has brought out issues. The Planning Commission sincerely wants to

make sure we address those and the way to do that is through

conditions and actions.”

Officials from the Robert Mayer Corp., which owns the Hyatt

Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa and the Hilton Waterfront Beach

Resort that sit next to where Pacific City is slated to be built,

have said that if the Planning Commission approves the project, they

will appeal it to the City Council.

The project lacks the necessary on-site parking, and fails to

adequately address traffic impacts or bacteria from storm water

runoff, Robert Mayer Corp. President Steve Bone has said.

The commission voted Tuesday night to change the affordable

housing requirements for Makar Properties.

To increase affordable housing in the city, the commission gave

developers an additional option last night. Instead of the original

requirement to build 39 affordable housing units on site and 39 off

site, developer Makar Properties now has the option to build 178

affordable units off site instead.

“The object is to create as much affordable housing as you can and

as affordable as you can,” Planning Commission Chairman Ron Davis

said.

The commission also voted in favor of the storm water runoff

treatment system that Makar Properties has proposed.

Storm water runoff from the Pacific City project would be filtered

through a treatment system on site. From there it would flow into

storm drains and then into the ocean. It would not be treated for

bacteria.

The Planning Commission also agreed that no grading or

construction could begin until a full cleanup of the land is

completed.