COUNCIL WRAP-UP

Here are some of the items the City Council considered at its meeting Tuesday.

REFINANCING PUBLIC BONDS

Council members voted unanimously to refinance some of the bonds it issued in 1997 and 2000 to make public improvements. City staff told them that with interest rates falling to new lows, the government could get a better deal on its debts.

WHAT IT MEANS

The city will save $700,000 off of the bonds’ current value, finance officer Dan Villella said. “Usually staff uses these meetings to come to you to request additional money,” he told council members. “But on this occasion we’re coming to you for permission to spend less money.”

DIGITAL SIGN LAW

Council members voted 7-0 to call for special state legislation giving the city more leeway to allow sellers to use a digital advertising sign on Beach Boulevard near the San Diego Freeway (I-405). Local car dealers use the sign to advertise their wares, but the California Department of Transportation said that use violated requirements all advertisers be within a blighted Business Improvement District zone.

WHAT IT MEANS

The city will call for state legislators to pass a law exempting Huntington Beach from requirements that groups advertising on the sign be based within the Business Improvement District.

GO LOCAL STUDY APPROVED

Council members voted unanimously to sign on to study transit links to local beaches, joining governments of Fountain Valley, Stanton, and Westminster in a study that would look generally at ways of supplementing transportation needs in the area. As each city signed on gets a $100,000 grant from Caltrans, the total amount for the study in grant money is expected to be $400,000.

WHAT IT MEANS

While a larger coalition of cities was originally proposed and would have more directly studied a link from Huntington Beach to Disneyland, the current four signed off on a more general study, which will look at links between Metrolink stations and landmarks like beaches and the Bella Terra shopping center.