Residents fear recycling center will attract transients

Voluntary recycling may be uncontroversial, but one proposed recycling center has drawn plenty of local ire.

The Huntington Beach Planning Commission is set to vote Tuesday on whether to allow a recycling center to be built at a Ralphs supermarket on Brookhurst Street and Adams Avenue. The center has drawn sharp opposition from nearby residents who fear it will attract transients, have an ugly appearance and bring unwanted traffic, and city staff appear to agree—they recommend that planning commissioners vote no on the idea.

“The proposed recycling center will be detrimental to the general welfare of persons in the vicinity and to improvements in the neighborhood,” the staff report states.

The city zoning administrator denied the proposal in May, after Police Chief Ken Small said he was concerned about transients going to the center, and 58 residents spoke against it as well.

The proposed center would consist of a small kiosk and two storage containers behind the store—which both city staff and residents say is a bad place to put it.

According to a form letter sent by dozens of residents of the nearby Huntington Bay Homeowners Assn. community, the center would be next to an open gate into their neighborhood—which risks turning their streets into a shortcut for transients, the letter states.

“We offer many amenities that appeal to families with young children,” the letter reads. “We don’t want those amenities to be offered to a transient population. We firmly believe that it would bring harm to our wonderful community.”

The state mandates stores redeem cans and bottles, but the Ralphs at Brookhurst Street and Adams Avenue, like many in the county, doesn’t have the required recycling center nearby.

A spokesman for the Ralphs chain said that if the permit to build were denied, it would be a first for the center.

The commission will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 2000 Main St.