2023 Settlement Forces Huntington Beach to Pay Pacific Airshow $4.9 Mil

Two residents of Huntington Beach, California are attempting to get the city a refund by overturning its controversial 2023 settlement with Pacific Airshow. The original agreement earned the airshow operator a total of $4.9 million over the next six years.

The settlement was announced in May 2023. It was the city’s way of ending a lengthy legal dispute with Pacific Airshow LLC, sparked by an oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach forcing the 2021 airshow to cancel its final day of events. The deal required Huntington Beach to chalk up $4.9 million over six years as well as potentially locked Pacific Airshow into a 40-year, multi-million dollar role with the city. A contract for these terms has not yet been decided.

The decision was sealed relatively quickly, not even waiting for the judge to rule on Huntington Beach’s motion to dismiss. This rush was particularly troublesome since many see the oil spill, not the city, as the culprit. Other residents pointed out that Pacific Airshow CEO Kevin Elliot had previously made donations to the City Council and Attorney, potentially causing a conflict of interest.

Mark Bixby, a former Huntington Beach Planning Commissioner, and Connie Boardman, the former Mayor, attempted to intervene with the original lawsuit in June 2023 but were shot down for lacking standing. Though they haven’t gained any more legal authority in the last year, the duo has decided to give the fight one more go.

Bixby and Boardman presented a new lawsuit to the Orange County Superior Court on January 10 hoping to not only cancel the settlement’s future payments, but also get a refund of what was already paid to Pacific Airshow. They claim that the settlement was frivolous spending of public funds.

“As a Huntington Beach resident and taxpayer, I’ve been paying close attention to City Hall for more than 20 years and this is the most outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars that I have ever seen,” Bixby explained. “The city could have easily defended against the air show operator’s lawsuit over cancellation due to the oil spill, but instead chose to settle without a fight by paying millions of dollars to a close political supporter of the City Council majority and the city attorney. This cannot be allowed to stand."

FMI: www.huntingtonbeachca.gov