SOUNDING OFF:Measure T is trouble for taxpayers

The Huntington Beach City Council again demonstrated its arrogance at the Sept. 18 council meeting when it voted 5-2 to appropriate $22 million in park development fees to build a senior/recreational center in Central Park.

The vote on Measure T is not until November, and yet Mayor Dave Sullivan recommended setting aside the funds now. Never mind that we are not being told the specific size of the building; its layout and uses; the environmental impacts to the park and surrounding neighborhoods — let alone the issue of what this project will cost. Do not be fooled residents of Huntington Beach: This project will cost us, the taxpayers, significant money to fund and operate a senior/recreational center of this size.

The city is to receive in excess of $25 million of park development fees from Makar, the developer of Pacific City on Pacific Coast Highway. Those funds are for park improvements and expansions throughout Huntington Beach. You see, if the park development fund got to keep those $22 million in fees, there would be money to address the long laundry list of park needs that this city has. There are softball and sports teams that need new playing fields; trails that need to be made; planting and weeding projects; trash removal; landscape design; new benches and play equipment; bathroom upgrades; and sidewalk repairs. The list truly could be endless.

The current park budget is about $1 million and all of that is project specific. There has never been money in the park budget until now, and the City Council is recommending that we build a senior center with all of it. No other park will receive a dime.

Placing the senior center/recreational center in Central Park allows the city to use park funds to build just one project for a specific group of people. It also reduces park land and open space in the process. Taking park funds that will only pave over park land and reduce open space appears to be a lose-lose situation for all the residents of Huntington Beach. At the council meeting, however, we were told the senior center wouldn’t cost the taxpayers a dime since the city is appropriating the $22 million to build it from park development fees. Who will pay to maintain the building? Where will the funds come for its general operating expenses like heat and lights and water? Those funds will come from the city’s operating budget, which means we will all be paying to support the center on an ongoing basis (think Sports Complex redux).

The proponents of the center tell us it “will pay for itself” as the center will be marketed to the public for functions to offset the costs. Now the senior center must be rented out? That brings large groups into the park for weddings and meetings. Will the seniors really like that? Central Park will never be the same. Trash disposal trucks, huge air conditioning units and weddings for 300 do not make for a peaceful walk in the park.

A windfall of $22 million in our parks budget could go a long way in our city’s parks. It could certainly pay to put stall doors on the bathrooms in Central Park and also to make those restrooms Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. There would be money to finally do all the improvements to our parks and recreation areas that the city has never had the funds to do. The site being considered at the Measure T vote is undeveloped for a reason: there was never any money to develop it. There would be if the funds designated for parks were to stay in the park development budget.

I hope the residents of Huntington Beach take the time to read up on Measure T as this is an important vote for our city’s future and should not be taken lightly. A 45,000-square- foot building in the middle of Central Park will have significant impact — on the park, on the environment, on the neighborhoods, on the wildlife — and also on all of our wallets.