Neighbors to rally to support park

A group of residents plans to rally Thursday evening at Triangle Park, protesting a plan expressed by the city to transform the area into a cultural arts hub for downtown.

Kim Kramer, the spokesman for the Huntington Beach Downtown Residents Assn., said more than 200 people may attend the demonstration, which is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the park at the intersection of Main and 6th streets. The city’s Downtown Specific Plan, released in draft form in December, outlines a proposal to develop the park area with a performing arts venue, an art gallery, underground parking and other uses.

To Kramer and his association, which formed in the last few months to combat the project, having a massive cultural center could lead to any number of problems for the neighborhood, from gridlocked traffic to noisy crowds to homeless people camping out in the public restrooms.

“We don’t mind so much a cultural center,” Kramer said. “A cultural center could be a good thing. But the bottom line is, they want to build it in the heart of a residential community.”

City officials claim that the current version of the Downtown Specific Plan is far from final, and that any definite plans for development in the park are a ways in the future. The Planning Commission is expected to address the issue in September, with a City Council vote to follow. If the council greenlights the project, it will need further approval from the California Coastal Commission, according to Jennifer Villasenor, an associate planner for the city.

“I think they’re premature in their opposition, but it’s pretty normal,” Mayor Keith Bohr said about the protesters. “Anything, any time, anywhere you want to develop anything, you have resistance from the immediate neighbors.”

Having an attractive tourist spot in the park, he said, could serve as an “anchor” for the downtown area that stretches to the beach. He noted, though, that the project would require a public vote before construction could begin.

“We’re at a very early phase, but our hope is that we can come up with a plan that would give us a 21st-century library and enhance our cultural node and be the cultural gateway to downtown,” Bohr said.