City to invest fee windfall

The city is set to get $19 million in fees from a major waterfront residential project in December. City Council members plan to divvy up the expected revenue to fund downtown improvement and storm-drain projects.

The city plans to use one-half of the $15 million expected revenue for capital improvements and the other $7.5 million for redevelopment projects. About $4 million of the payment, to be received from the Waterfront Residential project, has been earmarked for the seismic retrofitting of City Hall. Vulnerability to earthquakes prompted setting aside funds to retrofit the building, which will be matched by a $3-million FEMA grant.

The fire station will be repaired and upgraded to include three stations. The police department building and library on Main Street, the Huntington Beach Art Center and Oak View area will also receive funds for repair and remodeling work.

But a proposal to build restrooms in Blufftop Park on the main pier raised several questions from council members. The $2.4-million redevelopment agency project proposes to replace the temporary restrooms there with permanent facilities.

“Blufftop restrooms really concern me,” Mayor Dave Sullivan said. “It’s about knowing all the costs involved in it and the City Council should as much as possible include all of the costs.”

According to Councilman Gil Coerper, the downtown area needs restrooms urgently.

“There’s one restroom in the downtown parking structure which I don’t know if I would let my dog use it,” he said. Coerper disagreed with building the restrooms in Blufftop Park, saying there are lot more people downtown who could use them.

Councilwoman Cathy Green said restrooms could become a public safety problem in the downtown area. City Administrator Penny Culbreth-Graft added that Community Services Director Jim Engle has contacted the American Restroom Assn. for ideas that may address a downtown location for the restrooms as well as the public safety issue. Culbreth-Graft said they’re looking at building single-unit restrooms instead of multiple units that would not only be safer but easier to maintain.

The city has budgeted about $700,000 to finish renovations on some pier buildings including the Surf City store selling memorabilia, Bait & Tackle and Kite Connections stores. Setting up a visitor’s kiosk equipped with computers would help tourists book hotel rooms, make restaurant reservations and get information about entertainment events, city officials said. An existing ATM kiosk on Pier Plaza is slated to be modified into a Visitors Center at a cost of $102,000.

Walnut, Pecan, Orange, Olive, Lake, Acacia, 2nd and 3rd streets will get a $2.5-million makeover with more street trees and lighting, sidewalk, curb, and gutter improvements. Besides downtown area improvements, the city also plans to include storm drainage construction for at least five main thoroughfares.

“We’ve done a lot of work on storm drains since the ‘80s and ‘90s when we used to have a lot of flooding,” Engle said.

The program will study storm drains on Slater, Talbert, Parkside, Atlanta and 22nd streets and plan construction. The total cost of undertaking the five projects will be more than $18.5 million.