Sunset Beach awaits consultant’s report

The Sunset Beach Community Assn. is awaiting the recommendation of a private consultant before deciding whether to forge ahead with plans to incorporate as a city.

Greg Griffin, the association’s president, said his group hired a consultant in November from Willdan Financial Services to determine if the seaside community could foot the costs of operating as a city. Griffin said he expected the recommendation to come back in April and that the future of Sunset Beach would likely hinge on the consultant’s opinion.

“Whatever the recommendation is, it’s going to be public one way or another,” Griffin said. “If the recommendation is that we can’t do it, we’ll drop it, and if the recommendation is that we can, we’ll press ahead.”

The Orange County Local Agency Formation Committee put the community under Huntington Beach’s sphere of influence in July, seeking to eliminate the county’s remaining unincorporated areas. Some Sunset Beach residents said they would rather become part of Seal Beach if annexation was necessary, but the Seal Beach City Council voted in August against taking the community.

Soon after, Griffin’s group filed a notice of intent to petition with the Formation Committee — the first step toward incorporating — and sent out a survey to test residents’ interest in Sunset becoming its own city. Only 48% of those who filled out the survey voted yes, and more than 60% of the people surveyed did not respond.

Nevertheless, the community association is circulating petitions in hopes of getting at least 25% of Sunset’s landowners or registered voters to support incorporation. If enough residents sign the petition, it could prevent Huntington Beach from starting the annexation process.

Griffin said the association hoped to have the petition ready by the time of the consultant’s report, so it could present the signatures to the county immediately if the report was positive. He noted that a certified public accountant who formerly lived in Sunset Beach did an informal study recently and determined that if the area became a city, its expenses would slightly exceed its revenues. She suggested imposing a utility tax to make up the needed funds, Griffin said.