Planning Commissioner makes a second bid for City Council

Lyn Semeta wants to see more business but less development in Huntington Beach.

The 56-year-old planning commissioner first ran for City Council in 2014, when four seats were up for grabs.

After placing sixth — sandwiched between two incumbents — in that election, Semeta is attempting again to earn a seat on the seven-member council.

“I got more votes than one of the incumbents and was about 400 shy of the other,” Semeta said. “I thought, ‘I’m going to do this again. I have that passion still.’”

Semeta, who has lived in the city for 20 years, said she believes that sitting on the Planning Commission for the past two years has helped residents learn about what she stands for.

In her role as a commissioner, she has supported amendments to the city’s Beach Edinger Corridor Specific Plan.

The plan was adopted in 2010 to revitalize Beach Boulevard and Edinger Avenue, the city’s two major streets, by streamlining the approval process for development projects. It allowed 4,500 residential units in the area based on Huntington Beach’s state-mandate housing element, general guidelines for addressing housing needs for all economic segments as the community grows.

Last year’s amendments, prompted by resident complaints about the high rate at which high-density residential projects were popping up, changed the cap to 2,100 units and imposed stricter height and setback requirements.

Semeta — who grew up in Seal Beach, attended Huntington Beach High School and graduated from UCLA and law school at the University of San Diego — said she spoke about housing during the last election, and the subject is on her platform again.

“I want to preserve our beach suburban character,” she said. “I know the vast majority of people in Huntington Beach do not want to urbanize the city. We don’t have that transportation in place, and we’re pretty much built out already. For us to be putting in large-scale apartment buildings with not much parking in a city that’s pretty built out doesn’t make any sense.”

The part-time business attorney, who has two special-needs daughters, said she has “a passion for consensus building and helping people who have diverse interests coming together to solve problems.”

She said she has led conversations between parents of special-needs kids and the Ocean View School District to help avoid litigation.

“I’m one of those warrior moms,” she said. “During the time when my kids were young, there was a great deal of litigation going on by parents against school districts because they just weren’t prepared for the influx of students with special needs. Instead of being the attorney that sued on behalf of the parents — which they wanted me to do — I said no and said we should collaborate to work together. Instead of having costs go to litigation, let’s have them go toward better services.”

Semeta, whose daughters are now in their 20s, started San Diego’s Women’s Resource Fair for homeless and battered women and does pro bono work for homeless veterans.

Regarding homelessness in Huntington Beach, Semeta said having “ties with services” is critical.

“We just can’t be giving food or other supplies without trying to help people get at the cause of what’s causing their homelessness, whether it’s mental health issues and they need counseling or they lack job skills and they need training,” she said.

She also noted the importance of business generating money for the city, especially if development projects are kept in check, she said.

“Huntington Beach just does not do a good job of [business],” she said. “We have too many regulations. We have too many fees. We need to strip away at those and do more to actually recruit people to come here and do their business.

“That’s a steady stream of income as opposed to building residential where it’s kind of a one-time fee that the city gets and then it’s providing services and infrastructure needs for all those people. I think we should just focus on business growth.”

Semeta said she believes social media can be a tool to bridge the gap between residents and elected officials.

“I’m a big believer in the Constitution, and I think that government is supposed to be by and for the people,” she said. “So many politicians, unfortunately, forget that, I think. They think the governing should have the say as opposed to the other way around. I want to work on increasing the transparency and citizen involvement.”

Meanwhile, she’ll walk precincts to meet residents and promote her campaign.

“I think it’s very important to get out and hear from the residents what it is that they’re wanting to be worked on in the city,” she said. “The most important thing is getting input from people.”

This is another in an occasional look at the 10 people who have filed papers indicating their intent to run for a seat on the seven-member Huntington Beach City Council. Three seats are open, but three incumbents have announced their intentions to try to retain their positions.