A planned light show at Huntington Central Park has been scrapped for this year, after months of public outcry and litigation over the event’s impact on wildlife and open space.
Symphony of Flowers is a multimedia project that would occupy 6 acres of the park for six months of the year, installing more than 100,000 luminous flowers and 500,000 LED lights, along with dozens of speakers to play classical music. This year’s show was set to run from Labor Day weekend to early March.
The grassroots Protect Huntington Beach sued the city in late March, alleging officials violated the California Environmental Quality Act when they approved Symphony of Flowers.
The operator, Flowers of the Sky Entertainment, LLC, said the project would bring Huntington Beach at least $150,000 a year in revenue, which could help the city address a growing budget deficit over the next few years.
Protect HB agreed in a Sept. 3 court filing to suspend the lawsuit for 90 days so the city, the promoter and residents can hammer out a new agreement that addresses the public’s concerns.
“We understand that the city is looking for ways to create revenue,” said Cathey Ryder, one of the co-founders of Protect HB. “We just want it to be done in a way that’s environmentally correct and protects the integrity of our park.”
Huntington Beach City Attorney Mike Vigliotta declined to comment, noting that “the city and plaintiff are in settlement talks.”
The legal dispute revolved around the validity of an environmental impact report on Huntington Central Park that was conducted in 1999. The City Council included an addendum to that study in February when it unanimously approved a three-year contract for the light show.
But residents and state regulators said the analysis was outdated and misleading, as it concluded that the proposed event would have minimal impact on the wildlife that inhabit the park.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a March 7 letter that lighting and noise from the show could disrupt the park’s diverse bird species, including the bald eagle, monarch butterfly and yellow warbler — several of which are named on the state’s endangered species list.
“Twenty-six years of urban expansion, habitat fragmentation and climate change have reduced available habitat for special status species in Huntington Beach, making the remaining habitat in Central Park East more ecologically valuable,” the agency wrote.
State regulators said the city didn’t seek their feedback or make the EIR addendum available for public review. The letter included suggested mitigation measures for operators to follow.
In addition to the lights and flowers, the project would install bleachers to accommodate up to 2,000 spectators for the 30-minute show, which would run multiple times a day from dusk to 11 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Each viewing would be expected to draw around 900 people.
Ryder said Protect HB did not intend to sue the city, but strong opposition from residents pushed the group to take action. Hundreds of people emailed the City Council or attended meetings to express their concerns about the light show. A petition to consider environmental consequences of the project has amassed nearly 4,000 signatures.
The operator should be required to conduct a complete and transparent environmental review and provide a performance bond so that taxpayers aren’t liable for potential damages to the park, Ryder said.
“We hope they’ll come to the table in good faith,” she said. “We’re not trying to play gotcha with anybody.”
A status conference is scheduled in county court for Dec. 16.