HUNTINGTON BEACH City Council voted 5-2 Monday night to continue a decision on a plan to build two houses in the Davenport Marina area (OC Tribune photo).

By Jim Tortolano

A decision on a controversial plan to build a pair of houses on what is now a parking lot in Huntington Harbour was continued after a lengthy public hearing Monday night at the Huntington Beach City Council.

The council voted 5-2 – with members Jill Hardy and Erik Peterson opposed – to continue the denial of a conditional use permit to built the project on Davenport Street in the marina area. City staff was directed to meet with the developer and residents to try to work out a compromise agreeable to all sides.

Eight people spoke on the issue, including the developer and residents of the neighborhood. John Stankos, representing the property owner wanting to build, called the denial of the permit by the city planning commission as “a clear violation of property rights.”

But residents raised concerns about traffic, parking and obstruction of coastal views, arguments supported by the city’s planning division in recommending denial.

Edward Pinchoff, chair of the planning commission said that the “added public amenities” – landscaping and other improvements – “were nowhere near the public amenities lost.”

Peterson said “Right now that area is unsafe no matter how it is.”

However, the council majority sought to arrive at a compromise and figure out a way for the development to proceed. The development, as proposed, would take up only a portion of the lot. But city staff says the project would not have the required amount of parking.

No date was set for when the issue of denial of the permit would come back to the council.