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California’s top regulators of endangered species called out Huntington Beach’s plan for a new light show at Huntington Central Park East in a letter earlier this month, saying the proposal poses a potential threat to endangered wildlife.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife also says city leaders haven’t done enough to review the show’s impacts to the environment.
Regulators also said the city’s new environmental report fails to recognize several endangered or rare birds already living at the park, including two bald eagles which have been spotted just a quarter of a mile away from the project heading into nesting season.
“Pre-construction surveys should include surveying for bald eagle nests within the Project area and surrounding habitat,” regulators wrote.
The show is expected to include seating over 900 people per show, along with 76 speakers and over 500,000 LED lights across more than six acres for around six months a year, despite concerns from residents about a portion of the park getting privatized that long.
[Read: Huntington Beach Approves Light Show at Park, Residents Raise Privatization Concerns]
While the light show’s operators paid for an environmental review, it was largely based off of a 26 year old study the city completed in 1999.
In their 30-page letter to city leaders on Mar. 7, wildlife officials repeatedly criticized the new report as non-comprehensive and urged that a new, larger report be conducted to review the impacts from the light and sound of the show.
“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,” regulators wrote.
To read the full letter, click here.
It’s unclear how the city will handle the recommendations with Deputy City Manager Jennifer Carey offering a short statement on the issue.
“We are in receipt of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife letter dated March 7, 2025, regarding the Symphony of Flowers event,” Carey said in a statement last week. “Staff is evaluating the comments and recommendations outlined within the letter.”
Department of Fish and Wildlife officials also highlighted concerns around the impacts to monarch butterflies, whose populations have declined by more than 99% since the 1980s and are expected to pass through the park during the show.
Right now, there are plans to stack 12 speakers pointed directly at their habitat, along with bleachers for over 900 people right next door.
“The installation of bright LED lighting, other project lighting, amplified sound, crowd noise, and increased human activity near these groves may disrupt monarch overwintering behavior, potentially resulting in disorientation, increased mortality, roost abandonment, and species decline,” regulators wrote.
Most of the recommendations included keeping the sound from the show below 60 decibels, which sits around the volume of a normal conversation.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.
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