These are some of the items the...

These are some of the items the Huntington Beach City Council will

consider at its next meeting:

BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS

The council will consider a plan that allows Downtown businesses

to form a special assessment district and tax themselves for

improvements that will go toward cleaning up Main Street and making

it a desirable tourist destination. The city’s automobile dealers and

hotel/motel owners use similar systems.

The assessment district will use an aggregated fee schedule based

on its overall size, location and customer volume. The money can also

be used for infrastructure repairs, marketing and events to bring

more traffic to the Downtown area.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Downtown business owners were recently mailed ballots to gauge if

a majority of them wanted the assessment district. The city’s

Economic Development Department uses an assessment formula to

determine how much each business should pay based on the benefit they

will derive from the assessment district. If more than 50% of

business owners representing the total assessed value vote against

the formation of the district, it will be vetoed.

The vote tally will be presented at Monday’s council meeting. If

it succeeds, the council will most likely enact the assessment

district into law.

CELLPHONE NOISE BAN

The council will consider banning the emission of amplified sounds

in most areas of the city’s public libraries. Talking on the phone

will also be illegal.

Anyone caught violating this ordinance can be issued a $100 fine

by library personal. The new ordinance is needed to combat an

increase in rude behavior in the city’s public library system,

director Ron Hayden said.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The council is expected to pass this ordinance. A majority of its

members spent about 40 minutes at the last meeting hammering out its

details. Hayden originally asked the council to make it a misdemeanor

to use cellphones in the library, punishable with a $500 fine and up

to six months in jail.

The new law would only be used in extreme cases, Hayden said. Most

people caught talking on cellphones will be asked to stop or go

outside.

WILDLIFE SIGNS AT THE PIER

Connie Boardman is asking the council to post signs on the Pier

advising visitors and people fishing how to deal with bird species

that feed along the coast.

Boardman said that each year, dozens of birds die on the nesting

islands at Bolsa Chica when they return with fishing line trailing

from them. The birds nest closely together and can become tangled up

in the line and starve to death.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The cost of the signs is not listed, but it won’t likely be very

substantial. They’ll advise people fishing on the pier to reel in

birds as close as they can, before cutting their lines free. This may

seem cruel, but it prevents the bird from returning to the nest with

a long string around it.