Often regarded as the red-headed stepchildren of Hermosa Beach, businesses along Pacific Coast Highway and Aviation Boulevard recently joined forces in the hopes of urging city officials to invest in a long-forgotten part of town with various street and sidewalk beautification and improvement projects.

The group of business owners recently brainstormed ideas to make the area more attractive and accessible to visitors and residents by drafting up a wish list. The group suggested a shuttle program that would make stops within the commercial corridor, new landscaping projects and signs on both streets that distinguish them as two main portals into town.

This area of town constituted about $1.3 million of the city’s budget in sales tax revenues last year. Planning Commissioner Pete Tucker, who’s running for City Council this November, coordinated the meeting after fielding numerous comments and concerns from merchants in the area who feel excluded from the city’s efforts to improve downtown commercial districts.

“It’s an effort to get a voice down at City Hall in the form of an association to address problems and concerns that have come up over the years,” said Tucker. “I think this group needs a voice since it’s generating between 55 percent and 60 percent of the city’s sales tax. It was an informal meeting to see who was interested and I think it’s a step, so we’ll see what takes shape in terms of what they would like to see happen.”

Those who attended the Oct. 5 meeting included Mike Learned of Learned Lumber; Roger Bacon, landlord of the Ralph’s Shopping Center; resident Betty Ryan; Economic Development Committee Chair Joe Mark; City Councilman J.R. Reviczky; and Public Works Commissioner Jean Lombardo.

“There are a whole range of issues and parking is at the top,” said Reviczky. “I’m interested in creating a fixed-route system in conjunction with the WAVE program between the cities of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach so these areas are made accessible by local public transportation.”

The city’s downtown and businesses along the highway are maintained and improved through different funding sources. About one-third of business owners on the pier plaza voted to indebt themselves to pay for the plaza project and they received improvements funded through the city’s Downtown Enhancement Fund generated through parking revenues.

“I think a business improvement district would be a great idea along the highway,” added Reviczky. “Straightening the sidewalks and tree-planting efforts would be a good improvement. The area is much different from the plaza being that businesses are 5 feet away from the highway. There’s nothing we can do with the right of ways on the highway since Caltrans owns that area, but we can start looking at city-owned right of ways and lots the city owns on Third and Fourth streets to provide more parking.”

The Public Works Commission is currently involved in a tree-planting program in the area. Many of the business owners are also interested in making the districts more pedestrian-friendly and hope to develop mixed-use residential and commercial in the area with apartments built over businesses. In a busy place like New York City, the idea of renting out apartment space above ground-level stores is a common way of mixing housing and retail to stimulate the local economy.

Hermosa Beach shares similar attributes to that of New York with its small high-density and concentrated nature where such developments would most likely thrive but are somewhat scarce at present.

City officials like Mayor Michael Keegan would like to change all of that in certain segments on Hermosa and Pier avenues, Pacific Coast Highway and Aviation Boulevard, and hopes to take the first steps to determine whether the city would be an ideal place for such developments.

In recent months, the Hermosa Beach Planning Commission agreed to take a closer look at possibly altering city zoning laws to allow the mixed use. The commission claims if the city allows mixed use in some areas around town by changing zoning laws, it will give developers an opportunity to build housing units which would then provide an added incentive to attract new commercial tenants.

The Economic Development Committee prompted discussion on the matter — one in a series of ideas the group reviewed over a one-year period as a way of attracting new businesses to Hermosa Beach.

The merchants are scheduled to meet again Oct. 17 at 8:30 a.m. inside the city’s community center.