Park defenders plan Sunday rally

The Huntington Beach Downtown Residents Assn. is holding its second rally at 2 p.m. Sunday at Triangle Park and will unveil plans for a redesigned park and library.

The association is a group of residents committed to saving Triangle Park and the Main Street Library and consequently halting any development above Orange Avenue. The association has been getting the word out for the last nine months and has collected about 6,000 signatures for a petition. The group held its first rally in June, and more than 100 residents came out.

“We’re trying to keep the area north of Orange for the residents,” said Kim Kramer, the spokesman for the association.

The residents are worried about a possible cultural center being built over their library and on their park. The cultural center is a part of the Downtown Specific Plan that would use the center as the northern hub of Main Street.

The Downtown Specific Plan is a long-range planning document that dictates building and parking specifications and design guidelines. The plan is being updated to increase development over the next 20 years. The plan is going before the Planning Commission for a public hearing Tuesday.

The plan would have to be approved by the Planning Commission and the City Council and be put to a vote by the people before the cultural center could ever come to fruition.

Stopping the construction of the cultural center is the key to stopping development in northern Main Street, Kramer said. The association isn’t opposed to development or tourists, but rather uncontrolled development and 400,000 tourists a year in their neighborhood.

“We’re about saving the residential neighborhood for the residents,” Kramer said.

The association will present the Planning Commission with an alternative to the center, which it is calling “the downtown library gardens,” at the hearing. It will also unveil the proposal at the rally.

“We wanted to show them an alternative that can be done now and can be done inexpensively,” Kramer said.

The redesign of the park and library was created by architect and Huntington Beach resident David Salkowitz and will turn it into a “city park,” Kramer said. The plans include enlarging the park and adding a sculpture garden, a rooftop reading terrace, a small cafe with an outdoor dining area and an outdoor children’s area, he said. The plans also call for the modernization of the library.

The rally will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Triangle Park on Main Street and Pecan Avenue.