Huntington Beach’s new all-conservative council is ramping up efforts to stop dense housing developments in the city.
The city, which has been in a drawn-out legal fight with the state over its refusal to plan for more housing to be built in the city, is now moving to see if it could roll back approvals for a 159-unit senior care facility on Warner Avenue that was recently approved by the previous council iteration.
The City Council has also directed staff to develop new criteria for high-density housing developments.
Councilmembers have made no secret of their issues with building the amount of housing that the state wants it to.
The Bolsa Chica Senior Care Community project won narrow approval from the City Council in October with a 4-3 vote. Since then three newly elected councilmembers have replaced some of the incumbents who cast that vote.
The project, which would be located on the 4900 block of Warner Avenue, saw considerable opposition. But Councilmember Tony Strickland breaking with his conservative colleagues and supporting the project gave it enough support to pass.
Now councilmembers want to explore how they can walk back that approval.
At its Dec. 17 meeting, the City Council unanimously approved creating a new ad-hoc committee made up of three councilmembers that will review the extent of information brought before the council when it approved the Bolsa Chica Senior Care Community project.
Mayor Pat Burns said the committee will work with the city attorney and community development offices and will return with a plan to “revoke or amend” the specific plan that the council approved in October if there is enough evidence to do so.
Councilmembers Butch Twining and Don Kennedy, who were elected in November, voted against the project when they were on the Planning Commission.
The new council also asked city staff to develop criteria to “ensure that high-density residential development does not cause significant and adverse impacts to public health and safety.”
Councilmember Casey McKeon said new and dense apartment developments are too small for people and often lack larger two- or three-bedroom units. Overcrowding affects people’s health, he said, arguing new developments maximize square footage while incorporating little greenspace.
Huntington Beach, he said, also doesn’t have reliable enough public transit options for new apartments to not provide enough parking spaces.
Building Industry Association of Southern California Senior Vice President Adam Wood called the item a “head-scratcher.” He said overcrowding isn’t caused by building studio and one-bedroom apartments, but when multiple families have to live in a one-bedroom.
“That is a code enforcement issue, not a construction issue,” Wood said.
Strickland said he is against building high-density housing in Huntington Beach and the city needs to do whatever it can to prevent that type of housing from being built. Strickland acknowledged that some people may prefer urban living.
“I do believe in personal responsibility in terms of the kind of community you move into,” he said.
What were previously longer and oftentimes combative debates when the council had divided ideology was no more. The discussion on these items was short, wrapping up in minutes after introducing them.
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