Police and public employees get raises

After months of negotiating, the city’s police force and public

employees union have new contracts and those contracts include a 4%

raise, city officials said.

At its Feb. 8 meeting, the City Council will be asked to approve

the new contracts, negotiated for months with staff from the city’s

human resources department and union representatives from the

Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn. and the Municipal Employees

Assn.

City employees have been without a contract since December 2003,

while police have been operating without a labor deal since September

of the same year.

The new contract takes reffect retroactively, from the last day of

each union’s former contract. The police contract extends until March

31, 2006, while the city employee deal ends on June 30, 2006.

Employees from both unions will receive the 4% pay increase, said

Councilman Don Hansen. The council agenda calculates that pay

increases will cost the city an additional $3 million over the next

two years. Municipal employees will see a boost of $1.1 million in

the first year, while police will receive $668,000 in additional pay.

Hansen said he was happy with the pay increases and the tone of

the negotiations.

“I think we’re doing what we need to do to stay competitive in

this market,” he said, adding that he was “happy about the process

and glad all sides were able to come to a consensus.”

New Downtown edition latest in rebuild

A highly coveted property that was once the subject of a bidding

war between two large developers is set to become the newest addition

to the Downtown cityscape.

Architect Jeff Bergsma has submitted plans for a three-story mixed

residential and commercial building at 214 5th St. between Walnut and

Olive avenues. The property was once owned by the city’s

redevelopment agency and recently sold to landowner Robert Kourey for

$1.1 million after a brief bidding war with the firm LGB Investments.

Located in the city’s Downtown redevelopment zone, the project

will not receive any city subsidies, said Bergsma, who argued that

the success of other subsidized redevelopment projects, like the

Strand shopping center and Plaza Almeria, has increased the overall

market value of the Downtown area.

“We don’t need to subsidize anything,” he said, “because we have

reached a point where the market will justify such development.”

Bergsma, responsible for designing the 428 Main St. building

housing Salon HQ, as well as the 24-Hour Fitness center just down the

street, plans a “contemporary Mediterranean” look for the

10,750-square-foot 5th St. property with three retail centers on the

first floor, six offices on the second floor and three

1,500-square-foot condos on the third floor.

The property was originally slated to be sold to LGB for $950,000

last June, but City Councilman Keith Bohr, then a real estate broker

representing Kourey, told the council that they were willing to spend

$150,000 more for the site.

Residents to fix streets without fees

Huntington Beach residents can now fix cracks along public

sidewalks without having to pay for extra improvements to the street.

In the past, homeowners were required to pay to fix surrounding

street gutters and streets when removing overgrown public trees that

had damaged the sidewalk. Otherwise they would have to wait for the

city to remove the trees, and officials with the Planning Department

complained that they were already backlogged with 100 trees that

would take an estimated $14 million to remove.

At a Nov. 15 meeting, the council voted to waive that requirement

and allow homeowners to remove the trees without making the

additional improvements.

A new brochure describing how neighborhood groups can participate

in the program will soon be available at City Hall, the libraries and

community centers.

Several steps on how to proceed with a project are outlined in a

new brochure called “Huntington Beach Neighborhoods Working

Together.” After defining the project, the neighborhood

representative would first contact the city’s Neighborhood

Improvement staff in Economic Development at (714) 536-5542.

Depending on the scope of work, a licensed insured contractor or

engineer/architect would need to perform the work.

Before construction, the contractor would secure the no-fee permit

for right-of-way encroachment and other approvals. During

construction, the city’s Public Works Department will provide free

inspections.

Planning Commission to consider timeshares

The Planning Commission on Feb. 8 will review a request by the

Robert Mayer Corporation to amend the Downtown Specific Plan to allow

for the selling of timeshares at the Waterfront Hilton and Hyatt

Resort properties as well as the approved Pacific City Project along

Pacific Coast Highway.

The Planning Commission’s recommendation will then be forwarded to

the City Council for consideration. If adopted, the request will be

sent to the California Coastal Commission for their approval since

theses districts are within the Coastal Zone.

Although there is no development proposed as part of this request

at this time, the amendment will expand areas in the city where

timeshares can be permitted.