Hotels, Pacific City asking out of BID

Claiming that the Main Street area gets most of the benefits, hotels and other businesses are asking to be removed from the Huntington Beach Downtown Business Improvement District.

At its meeting on Monday, the city council will be faced with a choice of going ahead with the assessment charged to all in the district currently, or redraw the lines and allow the dissatisfied members to opt out.

The district consists of two “benefit zones.” Zone 1 is generally what’s thought of as Surf City’s historic downtown area, from Pacific Coast Highway up the Main Street section to Orange and Walnut avenues as boundaries. Zone 2 mostly takes in the area stretching south along PCH from the pier area to Beach Boulevard, although there are other areas near to Main in Zone 2.

DJM Partners, Inc., on behalf of tenants in the Pacific City development southeast of Main, wrote to the city asking to be removed from the BID. 

“As members of the BID for the last three years, we have not seen any favorable impact as members and therefore are requesting our membership and that of our tenants be terminated.”

Similar letters were submitted by the Hilton Waterfront Hotel and the Paseo Hotel and Spa.

The BID was established in 2004 to “improve the business environment of downtown Huntington Beach.” It hosts a website to promote the downtown – www.surfcityusa.com – sponsors events and provides extra cleaning of Main Street, according to the organization’s annual report.

The city council meets in its chambers in the Civic Center at 2000 Main St. A study session will start at 3:30 p.m, followed by a closed session at 5 p.m. and the regular meeting at 6 p.m.