{"id":71339,"date":"2025-11-26T22:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T22:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/71339\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T22:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T22:57:12","slug":"city-seeks-to-balance-beauty-character-on-main","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/71339\/","title":{"rendered":"City seeks to balance beauty, character on Main"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Part two of a series.<\/p>\n

The council discussed the beautification of Seal Beach Main Street during the yearly Strategic Planning meeting.\u00a0 The ideas included improving street lighting, an archway for Main, improved signage, and cleaning the sidewalks frequently. Re-painting the stripes on parking spaces and signage were named as two items that staff could start on right away.<\/p>\n

Other proposals included finding money for cleaning Main Street\u2019s sidewalks and replacing the trees along Main.<\/p>\n

Public Works Director Iris Lee said staff would \u201chopefully\u201d come back to the council with costs for improving Main Street by the first quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n

Main Street was the subject of multiple items on the Strategic Planning agenda.<\/p>\n

Discussion<\/p>\n

The following is not a transcript, but highlights from the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019d all agree that the character of Main Street is a huge part of the character of the city,\u201d said Police Chief Michael Henderson, who moderated the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love all of our neighborhoods.\u00a0 They\u2019re all important to us. But Main Street has a special focus and we\u00a0 were asked to come forward to you today [to] present where we are with Main Street visioning, talk about some options for beautification,\u201d Henderson said.<\/p>\n

He said one of the things that came from the council members was creating an environment on Main Street that attracts visitors and is helpful to business.<\/p>\n

Public Works Director Iris Lee said for the purpose of the discussion, the term \u201cMain Street\u201d included the beach area and the greater Main Street area.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we really preserve our 100-year-old character along this area?\u201d Lee asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to balance economic\u00a0 development but keeping the residential area in context; provide community-focused opportunities with our existing assets in the area,\u201d Lee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLighting has been discussed a lot recently,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

Lee said there was an overall desire among officials to illuminate the area, making it feel safe to walk on Main Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lee said there was a desire to make the street more decorative as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a possibility also to\u00a0 actually just bring light in the intersections themselves and that will create a focal point for intersections, drawing people to the area and creating some interest also,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

She said staff was looking for creative solutions to illuminate the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the age of the electrical infrastructure was an issue, according to Lee.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThere are a lot of interest groups that are hovering around our Main Street and somehow we need to be able to cut through that stuff to make progress on this stuff,\u201d said District Five Councilman Nathan Steele.<\/p>\n

Chief Henderson said that was one of the topics for the Strategic Planning meeting was a business first working group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re looking for here is\u00a0 if the strategy is a more friendly business environment what incremental and affordable improvements can we make to Main Street that we can talk about today that we can start moving towards,\u201d Henderson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Henderson listed some ideas: an arch, cleaning the sidewalks, re-striping the parking spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would the cost be to upgrade the localized electrical so it can support the intersection lighting?\u201d asked District Three Councilwoman\/Mayor Lisa Landau.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have to cost it out,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

District Two Councilman Ben Wong asked about lighting up the trees on Main Street.<\/p>\n

Lee said that boils down to the infrastructure for the lighting on Main.<\/p>\n

Kalmick said the idea of a restaurant or food service at the end of the Pier is just not happening.<\/p>\n

Kalmick proposed a gazebo at the end of the Pier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would provide seating. You might be able to have music out there as a result of that and a place for people to want to go to the end of the Pier and have a place to go,\u201d Kalmick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s rent it out for weddings,\u201d said District Four Councilwoman Patty Senecal.<\/p>\n

Kalmick said Seal Beach might be able to get financial help from the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy for a gazebo.<\/p>\n

Kalmick brought up the need to clean Main Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s any comment that that I get in mass quantities, it\u2019s \u2018I just came to your city, to eat in your city, and why are your sidewalks so filthy?\u2019\u201d Kalmick said.<\/p>\n

Kalmick said the city needed to put money for cleaning the Main Street sidewalks back into the budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point we cannot do the trees all the way down Main Street because we don\u2019t have the infrastructure,\u201d Landau said.<\/p>\n

Lee said it was uncertain that the infrastructure would support that.<\/p>\n

Landau said it was feasible to do the intersections at least.<\/p>\n

According to Lee, the city would likely have to put up poles to keep the string lights above larger vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Landau asked about funding for the Pier area.<\/p>\n

Finance Director Barbara Arenado said $1.8 million had been set aside for a restaurant at the end of the Pier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arenado said that was insurance money, apparently referring to the insurance coverage of the 2016 pier fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Arenado, the council could decide the purpose of\u00a0 that money. Later, Chief Henderson said that $4.4 million had been set aside for the Lifeguard Headquarters project. (See \u201cA working group for Lifeguard HQ replacement?,\u201d part one of the Strategic Planning series, at sunnews.org.)<\/p>\n

Main Street trees were another issue that came up. Kalmick expressed concern about what it had cost the city in claims against Seal Beach for tripping on the sidewalk or root intrusions into the water systems under the buildings there. He said the trees don\u2019t stop growing. He raised concern about the public access to the sidewalks as the diameter of the trees keeps getting bigger and bigger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to talk about that at some point,\u201d Kalmick said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kalmick he was talking about a budget to remove and replace the trees on Main Street.<\/p>\n

Landau asked if the Pier money (the $1.8 million) could be used to upgrade Main Street.<\/p>\n

Henderson suggested staff come back to the council with a \u201cgrocery list\u201d of items for Main Street and potential costs.<\/p>\n

Lee suggested placing a frame on the Pier that focuses on the sunset. \u201cI think everybody will come here and take pictures,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

Lee proposed repainting the parking spots and red curbs on Main Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lee also brought up decorative pavement to replace what is at the intersections right now.<\/p>\n

Lee suggested enhancing visibility at the mid-street crosswalks.<\/p>\n

Lee then brought up creating a signage program to point people to different spots in the area. (The Citizen-Council Parking Advisory Ad Hoc Committee proposed wayfinding signage to direct drivers to beach parking in 2023. See \u201cParking Committee update\u201d at sunnews.org.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can actually do this incrementally,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

(Later, Henderson said that was a deliverable that staff could work on immediately.)<\/p>\n

After summarizing what had been discussed, Lee returned to Main Street maintenance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Lee, Seal Beach had a contract pressure washing team that cost $180,000 a year. That was cut to reduce the city budget and had the pressure washing done in-house. \u201cWhile the duties expanded, staff did not expand,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

She also raised the subject of beach trash, and cleaning the Pier restrooms. She said doing it once or twice daily wasn\u2019t enough because of the number of visitors to the pier area.<\/p>\n

Lee said maintenance employees are paid $18.23 an hour. According to Lee, two recent hires quit, one after two days and the other after two weeks, because of the pay.<\/p>\n

Councilman Wong suggested lighting up an archway. He wanted to know what staff needed from the council.<\/p>\n

Henderson suggested having Public Works start on items that can be absorbed by the current city budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s going to be responsible for reporting back to us as to what\u2019s going to happen with this list of to-dos?\u201d Steele asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re looking at her,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

Landau asked if staff wanted to bring back the $180,000 contract for power washing Main Street sidewalks.<\/p>\n

Lee said staff would like to have that discussion.<\/p>\n

Landau said she would like to keep power washing the sidewalks in-house and pay staff more.<\/p>\n

Kalmick said he didn\u2019t think Seal Beach needed a power washing company.<\/p>\n

According to Lee, Seal Beach has two part-time employees for beach maintenance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Manager Patrick Gallegos said staff could bring back the plan and the cost for the council to consider.<\/p>\n

Senecal wanted the city to work with the Lions Club on the archway for Main Street. She said the archway needed to be tied into digital billboards. Later, Kalmick said he didn\u2019t see the connection between a digital billboard advertisement and an archway sign on Main.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to know who really our audience is,\u201d Senecal said.<\/p>\n

She also suggested looking at how Seal Beach could attract visitors to the Los Cerritos wetlands.<\/p>\n

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