A Seal Beach Main Street icon, The Bay Theatre, had been in question for the past few years.
Trying to navigate just what will happen to the aging movie house became even more difficult on August when a sign appeared on the theatre’s marquee on the building at 340 Main Street, the entrance to the seaside village’s Old Town neighborhood.
And the sign said: “Watch for our re-opening. www.BayTheatre.com.” The Bay Theatre continues to remain closed, a ghost building of Main Street, Seal Beach.
The tragedy of our country’s foreign wars arrived on the doorsteps of Old Town Seal Beach in August.
“I don’t know of any other Seal Beach soldier that was killed in the line of duty except for Matt Manoukian,” said Nate Kranda, a neighbor of the Camp Pendelton-based Marine who was one of three Marines shot and killed by an Afghan police officer. Manoukian, 29, was killed after being invited to a meeting in a Taliban stronghold to talk about security issues.
In Seal Beach’s Collge Park East in August, the Orange County Transportation Authority announced changes to plans for the expansion of the 405 freeway. One of those changes would have included leaving the soundwall in place between the freeway and Seal Beach’s College Park East neighborhood.
Transportation issues continued to impact Seal Beach as the Long Beach Transit Authority no longer allowed routes 171 and 131 to serve Seal Beach. OCTA continues to provide bus service from Seal Beach to Long Beach and vice versa.
The 405 expansion project was back in the news when Paul Glaab, the chair of the Orange County Transportation Authority, argued in favor of the toll road option in a reply to a letter from the mayors of six Orange County Cities, including Seal Beach. He said the College Park East soundwall would not have to be moved if the toll road option were adopted. Glaab told the mayors that their comments would be “captured and acknowledged.
Seal Beach cancelled the general election in late August when only the incumbents for three city offices filed nomination papers. Council members David Sloan and Gary Miller as well as City Clerk Linda Devine were reappointed to their offices. The City Council cancelled the election and called off plans to place proposed changes to the City Charter on the November ballot. The decision to cancel the election saved the city an estimated $50,000.
Summer was over, but the vacation rental issue was heating up again. The council received requests from the owners of three properties for extensions or exemptions to the city’s requirement that rental properties be approved by conditional use permits issued by the Planning Commission. The City Council rejected all three requests.
