Huntington Beach Happenings
by: Chris MacDonald
Published: July 22, 2024
HUNTINGTON BEACH...Happy Birthday to Myself and also the people that I know who share Birthdays with me that don't want to be named in this in Huntington Beach and Westminster California.
Huntington Beach City Clerk Robin Estanislau shared a link to the action agenda from The Huntington Beach City Council Meeting on Tuesday July 16th, 2024.
Huntington Beach Planning Commissioner Tracy Pellman Said: PLANNING COMMISSION Tuesday, July 23, 2024 Civic Center, Council Chambers 2000 Main Street Huntington Beach, CA 92648 Regular Meeting - 6:00 PM
PUBLIC HEARING ITEMS 24-481 APPEAL OF THE ZONING ADMINISTRATOR’S APPROVAL OF CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT NO. 23-019 AND COASTAL DEVELOPMENT PERMIT NO. 23-007 (PHAN RESIDENCE)
REQUEST: To demolish an existing two-story single-family residence and construct a 7,930 sq. ft. three-story single-family residence with a 725 sq. ft. three-car garage, 439 sq. ft. of second story balconies, and 652 sq. ft. of third story balconies at an overall height of 30 feet.
LOCATION: 3798 Mistral Drive, 92649 (southeast corner of Mistral Dr. and Wanderer Ln.)
Recommended Action: A) Find the proposed project categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15303, Class 3; and B) Approve Conditional Use Permit No. 23-019 and Coastal Development Permit No. 23- 007 with suggested findings and conditions of approval (Attachment No. 1)
24-484 ZONING MAP AMENDMENT (ZMA) NO. 24-003 (MAPPING CONSISTENCY CLEAN-UP PROJECT - UTILITY SITES) (Continued from May 28, 2024 with Public Hearing Closed)
REQUEST: To amend the current zoning map to bring 42 inconsistently zoned parcels consisting of utility type uses into conformance with their General Plan designations.
LOCATION: Citywide Recommended Action: That the Planning Commission take the following actions: A) Find the proposed project exempt from additional environmental review pursuant to section 15183; and B) Recommend approval of Zoning Map Amendment No. 24-003 with findings (Attachment No. 1)
24-485 APPEAL OF THE ZONING ADMINISTRATOR’S APPROVAL OF CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT (CUP) NO. 23-014 (HBCSD MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS BUILDING)
REQUEST: To construct an approximately 7,510 sq. ft. maintenance and operations building at an overall height of 17ft.-6in. at an existing school district office site.
LOCATION: 8750 Dorsett Drive (south of Dorsett Drive, between Poston Lane and Miramar Lane)
Recommended Action:
A) Find the proposed project categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15301, Class 1 - Existing Facilities and 15303, Class 3 - New Construction or Conversion of Small Structures; and
B) Approve Conditional Use Permit No. 23-014 with suggested findings and conditions of approval (Attachment No. 1)
Huntington Beach City Historian Jerry Person Said: Remember When -
Remembering Seltzer's Sandmen and the Man behind them
I just can't believe the number of murders recently in Orange County we just had, after all this is surf city not Chicago. So maybe we need to bring back Seltzer's Sandmen.
This week we are going to remember the personal and professional side of a man who created a legend in our city.
It was on a day in May of 1965 that a group of Huntington Beach police officers were hand picked for a special duty to benefit our community. These officers would be sent to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s police training academy for a rigorous training by some of the best instructors in the science of riot control.
Included in this elite group of officers were John Berens, Bill Bruce, Jerry Crusinberry, Chuck Hollingsworth, Monty McKennon, Roger Maltby, Ed Pratt, Don Tryon and Gil Veine.
After completing their training at the academy, these men would be called to the test in a very short time and would become symbols of pride for our community. This team of men would forever be known as Seltzer’s Sandmen and true living legends in their own time.
The man behind this legendary unit of elite officers was Huntington Beach Police Chief John Seltzer and it is his life that we will be remembering this week.
It was in 1905 that John Seltzer was born and when John was a teenager of 15 his family came to live in Huntington Beach and where he would remain for the rest of his life.
Our town was a much different place to live then with a population of only 1800 people, but that would soon change with the arrival of the oil boom of the 1920s. John attended and graduated from Huntington Beach High School.
In June of 1937 Chief Les Grant hired John as a desk relief man at our police department and in less than a year Seltzer would be appointed as a full time desk officer.
The population by now had increased in our city to 6,000 and the 32-year old Seltzer was the seventh man in the department. It wasn't long before two more officers were added to the force.
Seltzer would spend his first four years manning the police desk before he was able to enter the field and when Grant passed away on May 12, 1941 at age 42, Seltzer got a new boss when Don Blossom was appointed by the city council as police chief.
By now the department included Gene Belshe, Gayle Bergey, Clarence Double, E. “Fuzzy” Errington, Owen Mosier, Alfred Parker, Howard Robidoux and Jack Tinsley along with Blossom and Seltzer.
For the next nine years John was a familiar sight in the downtown that by the end of World War II patrol cars replaced shoe leather and FM radios were installed in police cars that made reaching the scene of a crime much faster.
In August of 1946 Seltzer was part of an 11-man police force and by 1949 the force grew to 17 men. In June of 1950 we had a new police chief in Ben Dulaney and he quickly reorganized the department and Seltzer was promoted to the rank of lieutenant that by 1958 Seltzer had reached the rank of captain when on October 8, 1958 Dulaney died from injuries suffered in a car accident and John Seltzer was appointed acting chief by the city council.
Nearly everyone who knew him expected the council would appoint Seltzer as full-time chief, but they put the appointment into the hands of the State Personal Board and after several people took the exam, Westminster’s police chief Clint Wright was selected and began his term as chief of police of our city on November 3, 1958.
One more chief would take the helm before Seltzer would receive the job that he should have gotten in 1958, for on April 6, 1962 Howard Robidoux became chief, but when Robidoux died suddenly on June 17, 1964, Seltzer was again appointed by the city council as acting police chief.
Only this time he need not fear of not becoming full-time chief as the council appointed him July 15, 1964 to fill out Robidoux’s term.
It was on July 5, 1965 that a riot had erupted on our beach and because of Seltzer’s trained Sandmen standing their ground, the rioters were quickly disbanded. A second beach riot occurred on a hot August 4th of the same year and again it was Seltzer’s elite Sandmen who arrested the ringleaders and dispersed the mob. Seltzer and his men were now on their way of becoming a true living legend.
As our city grew so did our police force that by 1966 the city had more than 60 men under Seltzer.
It was in 1969 that the helicopter patrol was created under Seltzer with the first patrol from the air starting on June 16, 1969. After 32 years of service to his city, John Seltzer retired from the police department on July 31, 1969.
Seltzer and his wife Mamie would raise three boys and one girl and they lived at 616 – 7th Street.
An avid horseman, Seltzer could now spend more time on his favorite hobby of caring for his horses that for many years John was a familiar sight riding his horse in our Fourth of July parade. While caring for his horses at a stable at Main and Clay streets, Seltzer suffered a heart attack and the man behind the legend passed away on April 4, 1972.
Because of his efforts as chief of police, our city can boast of having the finest men and women in law enforcement anywhere.