Part two of a series.
The council discussed the beautification of Seal Beach Main Street during the yearly Strategic Planning meeting. 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.
Other proposals included finding money for cleaning Main Street’s sidewalks and replacing the trees along Main.
Public Works Director Iris Lee said staff would “hopefully” come back to the council with costs for improving Main Street by the first quarter of 2026.
Main Street was the subject of multiple items on the Strategic Planning agenda.
Discussion
The following is not a transcript, but highlights from the meeting.
“I think we’d all agree that the character of Main Street is a huge part of the character of the city,” said Police Chief Michael Henderson, who moderated the meeting.
“We love all of our neighborhoods. They’re all important to us. But Main Street has a special focus and we were asked to come forward to you today [to] present where we are with Main Street visioning, talk about some options for beautification,” Henderson said.
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.
Public Works Director Iris Lee said for the purpose of the discussion, the term “Main Street” included the beach area and the greater Main Street area.
“How do we really preserve our 100-year-old character along this area?” Lee asked.
“We have to balance economic development but keeping the residential area in context; provide community-focused opportunities with our existing assets in the area,” Lee said.
“Lighting has been discussed a lot recently,” Lee said.
Lee said there was an overall desire among officials to illuminate the area, making it feel safe to walk on Main Street.
Lee said there was a desire to make the street more decorative as well.
“There is a possibility also to 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,” Lee said.
She said staff was looking for creative solutions to illuminate the area.
However, the age of the electrical infrastructure was an issue, according to Lee.
“There 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,” said District Five Councilman Nathan Steele.
Chief Henderson said that was one of the topics for the Strategic Planning meeting was a business first working group.
“What we’re looking for here is 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,” Henderson said.
Henderson listed some ideas: an arch, cleaning the sidewalks, re-striping the parking spots.
“What would the cost be to upgrade the localized electrical so it can support the intersection lighting?” asked District Three Councilwoman/Mayor Lisa Landau.
“We will have to cost it out,” Lee said.
District Two Councilman Ben Wong asked about lighting up the trees on Main Street.
Lee said that boils down to the infrastructure for the lighting on Main.
Kalmick said the idea of a restaurant or food service at the end of the Pier is just not happening.
Kalmick proposed a gazebo at the end of the Pier.
“That 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,” Kalmick said.
“Let’s rent it out for weddings,” said District Four Councilwoman Patty Senecal.
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.
Kalmick brought up the need to clean Main Street.
“If there’s any comment that that I get in mass quantities, it’s ‘I just came to your city, to eat in your city, and why are your sidewalks so filthy?’” Kalmick said.
Kalmick said the city needed to put money for cleaning the Main Street sidewalks back into the budget.
“At this point we cannot do the trees all the way down Main Street because we don’t have the infrastructure,” Landau said.
Lee said it was uncertain that the infrastructure would support that.
Landau said it was feasible to do the intersections at least.
According to Lee, the city would likely have to put up poles to keep the string lights above larger vehicles.
Landau asked about funding for the Pier area.
Finance Director Barbara Arenado said $1.8 million had been set aside for a restaurant at the end of the Pier.
Arenado said that was insurance money, apparently referring to the insurance coverage of the 2016 pier fire.
According to Arenado, the council could decide the purpose of that money. Later, Chief Henderson said that $4.4 million had been set aside for the Lifeguard Headquarters project. (See “A working group for Lifeguard HQ replacement?,” part one of the Strategic Planning series, at sunnews.org.)
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’t stop growing. He raised concern about the public access to the sidewalks as the diameter of the trees keeps getting bigger and bigger.
“We have to talk about that at some point,” Kalmick said.
Kalmick he was talking about a budget to remove and replace the trees on Main Street.
Landau asked if the Pier money (the $1.8 million) could be used to upgrade Main Street.
Henderson suggested staff come back to the council with a “grocery list” of items for Main Street and potential costs.
Lee suggested placing a frame on the Pier that focuses on the sunset. “I think everybody will come here and take pictures,” Lee said.
Lee proposed repainting the parking spots and red curbs on Main Street.
Lee also brought up decorative pavement to replace what is at the intersections right now.
Lee suggested enhancing visibility at the mid-street crosswalks.
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 “Parking Committee update” at sunnews.org.)
“We can actually do this incrementally,” Lee said.
(Later, Henderson said that was a deliverable that staff could work on immediately.)
After summarizing what had been discussed, Lee returned to Main Street maintenance.
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. “While the duties expanded, staff did not expand,” Lee said.
She also raised the subject of beach trash, and cleaning the Pier restrooms. She said doing it once or twice daily wasn’t enough because of the number of visitors to the pier area.
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.
Councilman Wong suggested lighting up an archway. He wanted to know what staff needed from the council.
Henderson suggested having Public Works start on items that can be absorbed by the current city budget.
“Who’s going to be responsible for reporting back to us as to what’s going to happen with this list of to-dos?” Steele asked.
“You’re looking at her,” Lee said.
Landau asked if staff wanted to bring back the $180,000 contract for power washing Main Street sidewalks.
Lee said staff would like to have that discussion.
Landau said she would like to keep power washing the sidewalks in-house and pay staff more.
Kalmick said he didn’t think Seal Beach needed a power washing company.
According to Lee, Seal Beach has two part-time employees for beach maintenance.
City Manager Patrick Gallegos said staff could bring back the plan and the cost for the council to consider.
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’t see the connection between a digital billboard advertisement and an archway sign on Main.
“We need to know who really our audience is,” Senecal said.
She also suggested looking at how Seal Beach could attract visitors to the Los Cerritos wetlands.
