EDITORIAL:Measure T makes sense

This fall’s relatively quiet City Council election — there are just seven candidates for four seats compared to 16 vying for three seats two years ago and 18 for four seats in 2002 — has allowed much attention to fall on Measure T, the vote on whether the city should pursue plans for a senior center on an undev- eloped part of Central Park.

Judging by the hyperbolic language on both sides of the debate, voters could be forgiven for thinking they are about to make the most important decision in the city since 1990, when Measure C won overwhelming support to force citywide votes on development of beach or park land — in other words, votes such as Measure T. This vote is important, certainly, but it will not forever alter the face of Huntington Beach.

What this vote will do is enable the city to provide an adequate, but not elaborate, needed place for Huntington Beach’s growing senior population. It will do so without costing residents more in taxes. It will do so in an area that is now a bare, empty lot. It will do so before the need for a new center becomes critical.

Voters should support that construction. They should vote “yes” on Measure T.

The reasons for a “yes” vote boils down to one pressing, inescapable fact: The number of seniors in Huntington Beach is increasing rapidly. And already the existing center at 17th Street and Orange is woefully small and far from big enough to handle the 30,000 or so seniors living here. How will it possibly accommodate another 20,000 by 2020?

The answer: it won’t and can’t, and voters should vote “yes” on Measure T so the city can prepare for that expanding population before it is too late.

Of course, the debate over the proposed center has never been about whether the city should do more for seniors; no one is arguing against that point. The center provides both entertainment — dancing, yoga and writing classes — and more serious options — legal services and counseling for seniors. But there are questions about whether the proposed site in Central Park is the right one for a 47,000-square-foot center.

We think it is.

A first argument is that the center would be too big for Central Park. But the development is on a 14-acre piece of the 356-acre park, and only five acres would be used to build the center — parking included. That seems a reasonably small amount.

A second argument is that construction of the park would destroy precious, natural landscape. A look at the site west of the intersection of Goldenwest Street and Talbert Avenue will show that is not the case. Done correctly, with native landscaping added to the construction, a new center would be a vast aesthetic improvement over the bare ground there now.

A third argument is that a new center should be built at the site of the present one. But we agree with proponents of Measure T that, as wonderful as the ocean-side location is, that land isn’t big enough for the size center this city needs.

A fourth argument is that there already is enough “commercial” business in the park. We don’t believe a senior center — even one that might be used for money-raising parties and other functions — qualifies as “commercializing” the park. It also will be smaller than the equestrian center or the disc golf field.

A fifth argument is that the center would worsen the quality of life of nearby residents. This is a sensitive issue, but we think the benefits of having a centrally located, adequately sized and modern center outweigh the potential inconvenience it might cause. We also are talking about a senior center, not lighted playing fields or the like.

In the end, it seems to us that opponents of Measure T are drawing a line in the sand, or park land, against any more development of what is — we agree — precious open space. Beach and park land are rightly protected against bad development by Measure C. We support Measure C and believe it remains a good law. But Measure C does not restrict development. It gives voters the chance to approve any development on this precious land.

That is exactly what Measure T is doing. And as precious as the land is, our need to provide a center for our seniors is even more precious.

Vote “yes” on Measure T.

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