City mulls parking during closure

The city may offer visitors two hours of free parking in downtown Huntington Beach to compensate for the loss of 88 parking spaces on Main Street when it will be closed temporarily for five weekends and 12 Tuesdays.

Free parking would be available in the Main Promenade parking structure during the weekends when Main Street will become a pedestrian mall. A flat-fee rate or a lower cost of parking per hour is also being reviewed. City officials are expected to make a decision about the parking in coming weeks.

More than 30 members of the ad-hoc committee studied the proposal to close Main Street for more than four months.

“Closing downtown Huntington Beach to traffic is just one facet of taking a larger look at downtown and how it fits in with the upcoming Pacific City and Strand projects,” said Stanley Smalewitz, the city’s economic development director who headed the ad-hoc committee.

“There is a whole bunch of problems besides elimination of 88 parking spaces on Main Street,” he said. “It’s easier to note the constraints rather than the opportunities.”

City Council members last week approved a proposal to close Main Street to automobile traffic on 12 Tuesday nights to attract locals and five festival weekends. The closures are set to begin in March.

“The pilot project is one small component,” he said. Updating downtown with better sidewalks and additional parking needed to be done sooner than later, Smalewitz said.

Downtown business leaders fought hard against a plan to close Main Street for 12 consecutive weekends, citing lack of studies and the loss of parking that would affect their business.

Council members voted 6 to 1, rejecting a proposal to close Main Street for a period of three months. They agreed to close the street for five weekends around major events. Mayor Dave Sullivan, who chaired the ad-hoc committee, voted against the watered-down version of the original closure plan.

The committee examined possible economic impacts of closure, funds needed to close Main Street and clean sidewalks as well as a public relations campaign. The committee’s seven work groups also looked at parking, traffic, safety, beautification and landscape issues.

The committee recommended hiring an events director to develop, market and organize events and promotions for Main Street. The director, a full-time staff position paying a salary of $50,000 and benefits, would oversee all entertainment programs and be the downtown business group’s liaison, coordinating with the city, the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitor’s Bureau and other groups.

Besides installing decorative bollards and barriers that will protect pedestrian areas from traffic, the work group proposed developing a unifying design theme for downtown-related signs.

Other suggestions included expanding the holiday parade and pier-lighting ceremony with window design contests, more holiday decorations and entertainment such as live bands and children’s parades.