The kids aren’t all right

Dave Brooks

People don’t just park on Overlook Drive. They “park.”

Take a nighttime drive down the narrow lot at the corner of

Seapoint and Garfield avenues and you’ll see about a half dozen cars

and vans conspicuously parked, their windows sometimes steamed. The

vehicles aren’t necessarily rocking, but they probably wouldn’t

appreciate any knocking either.

This is Surf City’s unofficial Lover’s Lane, a 5-year-old park,

where a teenage couple go to do whatever it is teenage couples do.

While the parked cars aren’t really causing any problems, neighbors

are complaining that a pattern of not-so-private moments by young

people are driving them crazy.

The park has also become a favorite spot for drag-racing,

neighbors say, and off-roading and partying, causing noise for the

dozen or so residents whose backyards jetty up to Overlook Drive.

“Nobody can bother the kids there, that’s why they go out and have

drinking parties and sex parties,” said Councilman Gil Coerper, who

is looking to pass legislation to restrict park access. “We need to

find a way to secure it so that the people who live there aren’t

subject to the noise.”

Several nearby residents said they’re worried instances of

fighting and drug and alcohol use on Overlook Drive are becoming a

hazard, and that someone is going to get hurt.

Police logs show that since July of 2003, officers have responded

to 57 calls from residents, including 25 for speeding, six for

disturbances and five for suspicious activity. Some residents say the

number of complaints to police is much higher.

“It’s really becoming a community issue,” said resident Dave

Stauffer, who lives with his wife Robyn and their two toddlers behind

Overlook Drive. “Many people use this park and we’re seeing a lot of

activity that just isn’t appropriate.”

From their backyards, the Stauffers are separated from the parking

lot by only a four-foot berm and a cast-iron fence. At their back

patio table they can make out most conversations on Overlook Drive

and easily hear car doors opening and closing from anywhere in their

home.

It’s not what they expected when they bought into the

up-and-coming Bluffs neighborhood, a gated-community with spatial

million-dollar estates that offer one of the last ocean views in the

city.

Dave Stauffer said it’s increasingly common to see young people

having sex in their cars in broad daylight and then disposing of used

condoms in the parking lot.

“Someone even flung one into our yard,” his wife Robyn said.

In December, residents with the Bluffs Homeowners Assn. petitioned

the city to have the parking lot permanently closed to vehicular

access, according to a letter from association board member Don

Galitzen.

The city balked at the proposal, arguing that Overlook Drive was

the parking area for a Harriet M. Weider Park, an Orange County open

space that connects Huntington Beach Central Park to the Bolsa Chica

wetlands.

After some lobbying, Councilman Coerper petitioned the council at

a September meeting to simply close the park at 7 p.m. Following a

2001 agreement with the homeowners, police were locking up the park

at 10 p.m., but residents complained that the park’s gate wasn’t

regularly closed and many young people were simply driving around the

barricade. Plus, they said, 10 p.m. was just too late for them.

Coerper pulled the ordinance before it went to a vote when several

park visitors complained that the new proposed hours were too

restrictive.

Planning Commissioner Carrie Thomas testified at the September

meeting that Overlook Drive was one of the last places in Huntington

Beach to watch the sunset over the Bolsa Chica and Pacific Ocean.

Thomas did not return a phone call for comment for this article, but

testified at the council meeting that many residents liked to visit

the park for an unobstructed view of the stars.

Residents like the Stauffers said they’re ready to compromise and

are now petitioning to have the park’s gate locked at sunset.

“The bottom line is that once it’s dark, there’s nothing left to

see,” Dave Stauffer said. “At night there’s nothing you can do out

there besides cause trouble.”

That would involve a coordinated effort by the Police Department,

Chief Ken Small said. Officers don’t always have the resources to

monitor Overlook Drive, he noted, and if there is an emergency,

police will not be able to shut the gate on time.

Small said his department will continue to work at reducing crime

in the park, but that similar locations in Huntington Beach face

disturbances.

“That goes on at every park in Huntington Beach,” he said. “If you

live next to a park you can typically expect some type activity.”