Residents fear coyote problems

The City Council will vote Monday on a proposal to reduce a nursery and put in an RV storage lot behind residents’ houses — a move residents are concerned will cause coyote problems, among others.

The council will vote on the Ward Garfield Specific Plan, which would turn a portion of land owned by Southern California Edison and being used by the Village Nurseries Landscape Center into a storage lot able to house 557 RVs and a rental office.

Residents are concerned that when the nursery, which backs up to their houses, is replaced, it will drive coyotes into their neighborhood.

Right now, residents of Aragon Circle, the neighborhood behind the proposed RV lot, haven’t had any issues with coyotes that other residents near the wetlands are facing. Residents of the Bolsa Chica-Edinger tract have had their animals go missing and are worried for their safety as coyotes have lost their fear of people.

The nursery acts as a buffer zone of sorts for the residents and provides coyotes with shelter and food through the mice and rabbits that live in the nursery, said Tim Karpinski, a 20-year resident of Aragon Circle.

“We know that there’s coyotes down there because we hear them all the time,” Karpinski said. “If you take the food and habitat away, they have to go somewhere.”

Besides the coyotes, residents are concerned with their quality of life, property values dropping and safety issues with housing RVs so close to their homes and under power lines.

A similar proposal went before the Orange Planning Commission in 2008 to allow an RV storage facility on Edison property next to residential properties. The proposal was denied for public safety reasons, according to Orange city documents. Los Angeles County has also banned RV storage under high-voltage electrical lines in 2008, according to city records.

“I think the precedents set by the city of Orange and Los Angeles County speak volumes,” said Debbi Henigman, a 18-year resident of Aragon Circle.

The storage unit is needed to meet the need in Huntington Beach after the city passed regulations restricting on-street parking, according to city documents. The project applicant couldn’t be reached Friday.

The City Council is expected to vote on the specific plan at 6 p.m. Monday in Council Chambers at the Civic Center on Main Street.