UPDATE MARCH 7, 2011 At the City Council meeting today, the owner of Bomburger recinded their application for an alcohol license citing residential concerns over public safety. The HBDRA extends its gratitude to Bomburger and wishes them all the best.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 8, 2011 The Bomburger appeal to the City Council is scheduled for March 7th.

BOHR FILES BOMBURGER APPEAL

FEBRUARY 5, 2011 Thirty minutes before the deadline yesterday, City Council Member Keith Bohr filed an appeal of the Bomburger decision to the City Council.

On January 25th, the Planning Commission voted 4-3 to deny Bomburger an alcohol license. Bomburger is that small Downtown take-out hamburger hamlet on Main Street and now they want to sell beer and wine in violation of City policy.

Bohr seems to consider that an exception to City policy may be appropriate, and after trying to influence (unsuccessfully) the vote on the Planning Commission, he is now taking it to the City Council, where his influence will be greater.

Councilman Bohr was the only City Council member that tried to influence the Planning Commission regarding this vote and he contacted a majority of the Commissioners, which is unprecedented, and has raised concerns regarding a Brown Act violation.

The Planning Commission is comprised of individual City Council appointees and does not have a specific Council liaison which means that all Council members are liaisons. According to City Council Resolution 99-84, Council liaisons “should not direct the advisory body towards specific actions or activities” . . . and “should not impact the outcome of a decision or a vote.”

Some might consider this type of influence peddling to be inappropriate and in violation of City policy – we’ll let others chew on that for a while and determine if an investigation or other action is warranted. Bohr, however, is no stranger to extending his influence where it may not be appropriate.

As a Planning Commissioner in 2003, he was forced to resign his appointment less than six months after being sworn in because of an influence-related allegation.

The HBDRA opposes the issuance of any more alcohol licenses in Downtown Huntington Beach due to the related crime associated with an undue concentration and over-saturation of alcohol consumption in the Downtown area. In January, it was announced by the State of California Office of Traffic Safety that Huntington Beach ranks #1 in alcohol related traffic accidents. Click HERE to read more.

In his 2008 City Council campaign website, it states, “Your vote for Keith Bohr means a commitment to maintain our low crime rate.” Perhaps Mr. Bohr can explain how adding another alcohol license in Downtown helps maintain our low crime rate. (Which, by the way, isn’t low at all.) Some might argue just the opposite. We don’t need another place to consume alcohol Downtown and we don’t need another alcohol related traffic accident or DUI fatality causing personal tragedy for families and individuals. Mr. Bohr, please withdraw your appeal.

UPDATE JANUARY 27, 2011

Bomburger ABC License Defeated For Real?

Was our victory at the Planning Commission on Tuesday real . . . or not?

According to an HBDRA source, a current downtown business owner seeking an ABC license was told by the Planning Department yesterday that, based on the Bomburger defeat, he should cool it and not waste the $4K application fee.

We were sure that the Planning Commission decision would be appealed to the City Council, but now we have our doubts.

Kim Kramer, HBDRA board member was told today by Mayor Carchio, on the record, that he would not appeal it to the Council.

So, what gives? The deadline to file an appeal is February 4th. Check back then for an update.

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UPDATE JANUARY 25, 2011 (POST MEETING)

The Planning Commission had three options tonight regarding the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for Bomburger:

1) Approve the CUP as requested; close at 2AM, serve beer and wine til 10PM, or

2) Abide by the City Council Resolution 2010-05 and close at midnight, serve beer and wine til 10PM, or

3) Deny an alcohol license completely and reject the CUP in it’s entirety.

There were two public speakers, the owner of Bomburger and Kim Kramer of the HBDRA who opposed both options 1) and 2).

Blair Farley lead the charge with a persuasive argument that won the day with the Planning Commission voting 4-3 in favor of option #3.

Bixby, DelGleize, Farley, Mantini – YES.

Peterson, Ryan, Shier-Burnett – NO.

This matter will most certainly be appealed to the City Council. We will keep you posted.

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Planning Commissioner Erik Peterson ran for City Council in 2010 losing with only 3.4% of the vote placing 14th in a field of 20. He has since declared his candidacy for City Council in 2012.

In responding to the HBDRA 2010 City Council Candidate Questionnaire on Downtown Alcohol Issues, his response was:

” . . . we should not allow any more liquor licenses to be issued in the downtown area. . . Any actions I would consider in regards to these issues would be based on this belief.”

In a face-to-face meeting on Monday with HBDRA Board Member Kim Kramer, he re-confirmed unequivocally the validity of his position as stated.

Yet he voted in total opposition to his stated conviction with no apologies offered after the close of session and no contribution to the debate during the hearing. It was a poor performance to say the least.

With that said, newly appointed Commissioner Peterson may have had “first-night” jitters or was overly influenced by City Councilman Bohr who could be very influential in the upcoming 2012 elections. It was disclosed that Councilman Bohr contacted Peterson prior to tonight’s vote.

In any case, for those of us keeping score for the 2012 City Council elections, it’s a big “goose-egg” for Mr. Peterson.

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PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING TUESDAY

TIME: TUESDAY, JANUARY 25th at 7:00 PM

PLACE: CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL

SUBJECT: Downtown hamburger hamlet Bomburger is asking for approval to serve alcohol (beer and wine) in exception to a recently established City policy.

The HBDRA opposes this and will ask the Planning Commission to support City Council Resolution 2010-05. The HBDRA will also ask the Commission to go further in denying Bomburger ’s request for an alcohol license entirely.

The HBDRA believes we have a serious over-saturation of alcohol licenses downtown which negatively affects public safety and residential quality of life.

PLEASE ATTEND. GET INVOLVED. MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Mark Bixby Appointed to Planning Commission

In December 2010, Mark Bixby was appointed to the Planning Commission by City Council member Connie Boardman. Mr. Bixby is no stranger to the City nor HB residents, as his service to the community of Huntington Beach as an environmentalist and community activist is almost legendary.

Mr. Bixby grew up in Newport Beach where he spent much of his childhood years prowling around Upper Newport Bay. One wonders if he ever unknowingly crossed paths with his future mentor, Dr. Jan Vandersloot, during that era. It is entirely possible given that Mr. Bixby lived near the property that would eventually become Castaways Park and the site of Dr. Vandersloot’s 2009 memorial service.

Mr. Bixby enrolled at Orange Coast College while still a junior in high school and he was graduated from UC Irvine in 1980 (after only 3 years of study) with a B.S. degree in Information and Computer Science.

He was gainfully employed for 23 years by the Coast Community College District leaving in 1999 to work for Hewlett-Packard as an R&D software engineer. Part of his HP duties included giving training presentations at trade shows and user conferences, which allowed him to develop the public speaking skills that would come in handy later during his civic activism. In 2008, Mr. Bixby left HP to work for Quintessential School Systems, a small software company specializing in back-end office systems for K-12 school districts. His current duties at QSS focus on web application development.

Mr. Bixby and his wife Julie moved to Huntington Beach in 1999 residing in the Bolsa Chica area. As fate would have it, a Bolsa Chica Land Trust flyer appeared on their doorstep in December 2001 publicizing a neighborhood meeting to discuss options for preserving the greater Bolsa Chica ecosystem. Mr. Bixby had never been involved in any civic issues before and he knew nothing about wetlands or the intricacies of the many coastal issues facing our community. But he did know about computers and thought he might volunteer his services.

He attended that fateful meeting and the arc of his life was forever changed as a result.

His involvment with the BCLT soon expanded as he continued the ponding documentation photography work started by Dr. Vandersloot. He proceeded to catalog and map vegetation, bird species, raptor sightings and soon became an avid nature photographer, environmentalist and a key player with the Bolsa Chica Land Trust.

Mr. Bixby’s participation with the Land Trust exposed him to how government works or fails to work as the case may be. In his experience, Mr. Bixby observes that, “key information sometimes gets intentionally omitted from the decision making process. Lobbyists exert undue influence. Staff reports go unread. Decision makers shirk their responsibility and act out of expediency and punt responsibility to other government bodies or the court system.”

Mr. Bixby learned that bad things really do happen when nobody is watching, so he watches Huntington Beach City Hall like a “hawk” (no BCLT pun intended) because as Mr. Bixby believes, “government decisions have real impact on people’s lives and it is up to the citizens to demand that government live up to democratic ideals.”

Over the years Mr. Bixby has been a strong advocate on behalf of improved transparency, campaign finance reform, and charter reform. Mr. Bixby served on the 2009-2010 charter review commission and was able to get several of his charter modifications approved by the voters in the November 2010 general election.

In addition to his membership in the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, Mr. Bixby was a long-time board member of the Huntington Beach Downtown Residents Association (HBDRA) from which he recently resigned so he could fulfill his responsibilities as a Planning Commissioner.

Mr. Bixby looks forward to serving on the Planning Commission with the same dedication and attention to detail that he brings to all of his civic involvement.