Senior center’s fate rests with City Council

Plans for a new senior center in Huntington Central Park will be headed to the City Council in the coming months following the approval of the controversial location by the city’s community services commission last week.

If the council follows suit, possibly in November, the center would be built on five acres of a 14-acre piece of undeveloped land on the west side of the park.

The commission’s decision May 10 came despite organized opposition, including 20 people who spoke against the plan. Commissioner Carrie Thomas cast the only dissenting vote.

Opponents of the plan complained that the park is one of the last remaining pieces of open space left in Huntington Beach and argued that the construction of the center would open the door to more development.

But backers of the center, including members of the city’s Council on Aging, stressed the need for more support for seniors.

“We devote more space to the horses in Central Park than to the seniors,” Council on Aging Chairman Ralph Bauer said.

The commission also approved the modification of the five acres of park land from medium- to high-intensity use, which would allow for the center’s construction. The remaining nine acres will keep the lower-intensity development standard.

“There was a sense, a feeling, that this center is being pushed heavily for that location,” said Mindy White, a nine-year resident of Huntington Beach and organizer of Save Central Park, a group fighting the center’s construction.

White said members of her group plan to continue the fight.

Bob Dettloff, president of the Council on Aging, cautioned that there is a lot of misunderstanding about the center.

“I am sorry to see so much misinformation in the last meeting. Things have been misconstrued, and all those comments can be straightened out with actual facts,” Dettloff said.

The center would provide opportunities for intergenerational interaction, Bauer said.

“Young people at the Shipley Nature Center and seniors could mix with each other,” he said. “The center would also benefit other people long-term. And no matter where you put it, there’ll be traffic.”

Seniors and Central Park neighbors filled up City Hall at the May 10 meeting, cheering and clapping for speakers.

Arline Huff Howard, who was born and raised on the land that is the Shipley Nature Center, came out in support of a senior center at the park. “They really need a center. It would be fantastic to have a senior center there,” she said.

But others disagreed. A senior center at the park would make the park less quiet, less accessible and less peaceful, according to Martha Bergman, a baby boomer parent.

Charlene Bauer, who fought alongside former councilman Don Shipley to save Central Park 42 years ago, said that was one of the proudest moments in her life.

“Most of us were young then, and we built parks for recreation for everyone. Maybe it’s time for the youth to do something for the seniors,” she said.