Advisors discuss Edinger upgrades

About 50 residents got a taste of what the city faces in trying to upgrade Beach Boulevard and Edinger Avenue, as they listened to consultants and spoke their mind at a recent meeting designed to capture public opinion.

As the first of four workshops meant to get an idea of what residents want the sometimes stagnant areas to look like in the future, the May 10 meeting was not meant to include specific options and plans. That’s what the later workshops are for. But consultants’ opinion of the range of possibilities came off loud and clear: better architecture, probably more condo and apartment complexes, and slowly getting retailers more concentrated into districts and centers.

Re-imagining more than 5 miles of commercial strip is a long-term job not open to quick fixes, said Michael Freedman, a principal partner of Freedman, Tung and Bottomley Urban Design.

“Of all of the planning and urban design efforts a city can do, revitalization of commercial strip corridors, miles and miles of commercial strip corridors, is by far the most difficult,” he said. “When we go to revitalize a downtown, everybody who comes to the workshop comes with an idea in their head of a fully revitalized downtown. I’m willing to bet that nobody in this room can fully picture a new Beach Boulevard and Edinger Avenue.”

When he asked if anyone could prove him wrong, no one raised a hand.

Freedman divided the corridor into sections requiring different solutions, contrasting the “residential parkway” of Beach Boulevard from the beach through Adams Avenue, with the hodgepodge of strip malls and car dealerships from there to the San Diego (405) Freeway.

And he noted that Edinger Avenue had a sharp focus on retail and more properties that looked like good targets for redevelopment.

Still, Beach Boulevard can’t support much more retail than it has, said Tim Mulrenan, a principal partner of Tierra West Advisors, working on economic projections for the city.

What developers are making money on right now is apartment complexes and condos.

One thing questioners and speakers seemed to agree on was a need for Beach Boulevard to act as a better gateway to the city. One resident called it “a sea of asphalt and concrete,” and consultants said they wanted more reminders that the boulevard actually led to the ocean.

For copies of the presentations, go online to www.surfcity-hb.org/City Departments/planning/major/. The next meeting, to focus on more specifics, is scheduled for June 20 at Huntington Beach Public Library, 7111 Talbert Ave.