City will go to court over CA housing rules

Approval of a new policy limiting the display of flags on city property to only government flags – and the POW/MIA banner were not the only controversial decisions made by the Huntington Beach City Council on Tuesday night.

As with the flag policy, taken by many to mean a ban on the rainbow “gay pride” flag, the majority in favor was Mayor Tony Strickland, Mayor Pro Tem Gracey VanDer Mark and Councilmembers Pat Burns and Casey McKeon, with Councilmembers Rhonda Bolton, Dan Kalmick and Natalie Moser opposed on these actions:

• directing the city attorney to take legal action to challenge several state housing mandates, including lot splits and accessory housing units;

• directing the city manager to work with the city attorney to return with a policy on invocations at council meetings to create and maintain a list of religious leaders or associates, evaluate them and create a rotation system for religious leaders for invocations.

The council meeting –begun with three hours of heated public comments – lasted until adjournment at 11:39 p.m.

Two new buildings for St. Columban campus

A request for approval of a site plan to build a new lunch shelter and a six-car garage/storage structure at St. Columban Catholic School goes before the Garden Grove Planning Commission when it meets on Thursday, March 2.

The school and church are located at the northeast corner of Nelson Street and Stanford Avenue. The lunch shelter would replace an existing structure and cover 3,606 square feet. The garage/storage structure would be 1,640 square feet.

Additional site improvements would include new wrought iron rolling gates and reconfiguration of new parking stalls to accommodate the new structures.

Also on the agenda is a request for approval of a site plan for the construction of a new one-story 6,694 square foot office building on vacant space at