Business area face-lift explored

Downtown business owners are working with City Council members to expand efforts from closing Main Street to pursuing wider improvements of downtown.

“We are just trying to get the City Council to focus on trying to make Main Street a better place for everyone,” said Steve Daniels, president of the Downtown Huntington Beach Business Assn.

The downtown business owners have also hired a local urban design firm to study the effects of closing Main Street, Daniel said.

The Main Street pilot project committee is studying closing about three blocks of Main Street from Orange Avenue to Pacific Coast Highway to traffic.

A tentative Labor Day weekend date has been set for temporarily closing Main Street starting noon Friday and running until 10 p.m. Sunday.

“At this point in time, we are still moving ahead with the direction of a pilot closure,” said Nova Punongbayan, a staff member with the city’s economic development department.

Economic Development Director Stanley Smalewitz thinks that the Main Street committee needs to “continue doing what we are doing.”

“And I would like to see less rhetoric involved,” Smalewitz said.

The ad-hoc committee formed to study the temporary closure has been divided into several sub groups that are looking at a cost analysis for street maintenance, parking and public art, among other things.

Board members of the downtown business group said they have talked to City Council members about looking at the downtown area with a long-term perspective.

“All of the council members have been open to that idea,” said Joe Shaw, who owns two gift stores on Main Street and recently announced he’s running for the City Council in November.

“The focus should be on downtown as a whole and not just Main Street,” he said.

The business owners are getting at least some council support.

“We’re listening to the downtown people and listening to the staff and their ideas, which will eventually enhance the downtown area,” Councilman Gil Coerper said.

Shaw said board members have discussed the issue with council members Cathy Green, Debbie Cook, Keith Bohr and Don Hansen and received favorable responses.

“We have to look at the pros and cons of closing Main Street,” said Ron McLin, Longboard restaurant owner and head of the Huntington Beach Restaurant Assn.

McLin said the business owners decided to hire an urban design firm because they “feel like we need some outside eyes, experts, to look at this and give us some opinions.”

City staff working on the pilot project are also planning to hire a consultant.

“We are preparing to identify a firm or consultant to look at creating a pedestrian-friendly Main Street,” Smalewitz said.

A consultant would have to look at the issues in terms of opportunities, obstacles and the logistics, which city staff could put together in their pilot project study, Smalewitz said.