HUNTINGTON BEACH – Local residents and business owners say they’ve seen both positive and negative effects from Huntington Beach’s plastic bag ban, which now may be repealed.

Joanie MacLean, manager of Lucci’s market on Adams Avenue, said residents didn’t react well when forced to bring reusable sacks or pay for paper ones after the City Council passed the ban in 2013. Lucci’s pays twice as much for paper bags as plastic ones, said owner Rick Refice, and eventually had to charge shoppers.

“We used so many bags we had to charge, and customers were very unhappy,” MacLean said.

Yet for some, like Huntington Beach surfer John Butler, the ban improved the quality of life in Surf City.

“It’s better for the environment, everyone agrees,” Butler said Wednesday.

But not everyone does.

On Tuesday, the council took the first step to repeal the ban on single-use plastic bags, saying there’s no evidence that it helps the environment and that voters should decide whether to ban the bags.

The council voted 6-1, with Mayor Jill Hardy dissenting, to have city staff draft an ordinance repealing the ban and get a $5,000 environmental impact report on what the repercussions could be, if any, without the ban.

Advocates for and against the ban filled the Huntington Beach City Council chambers Tuesday, and dozens addressed the council in a meeting that spilled into an overflow room.

“We are a jewel in the crown in the California coastline and yet here we are, the stewards of this magnificent coastline, debating a ban on plastic bags,” 43-year resident Merle Moshiri said. “‘Stay trashy, Huntington Beach,’ is not something we want to hear.”

The ban could be lifted as soon as May 20, according to the City Clerk’s Office.

Residents like Jon Hehl think the prohibition on plastic bags improved the city landscape by lessening the litter.

Hehl, a lifelong Huntington Beach resident and avid surfer, lamented the council’s push on Wednesday afternoon while changing into a wetsuit for an afternoon of surfing. While he hasn’t noticed fewer plastic bags in the water since the ban went into effect, he does see fewer clinging to fences and caught on the bottom of his truck.

“I think it’s a terrible idea, honestly,” Hehl said of the council’s decision. “I have noticed a decrease in bags around town, that’s for sure. I don’t know what these people are thinking.”

Across town, Ruth Baird, 53, of Garden Grove visited the Main Street Trader Joe’s to pick up a few essentials. She’s happy to use reusable bags, but doesn’t want the government to regulate something so minuscule.

“I don’t believe in legislating things like that because I think the bigger the government, the smaller the citizen,” Baird said.

Newly elected Councilman Mike Posey brought the proposal before the council Tuesday, saying there is no proof that the ban on single-use bags improved the environment or reduced litter. The ban, Posey said, could have left a greater carbon footprint by driving consumers to buy paper bags or have reusable bags delivered to the city.

Posey ran for council on a platform of reducing the number of bans that come from City Hall, and there is no indication that money from plastic bag suppliers contributed to his campaign.

“What’s most harmful to me is that the choice is taken away from the shoppers,” Posey said of the ban Tuesday night. “I don’t want to trash the ocean. I don’t want to trash the beach. I just want liberty.”

Hardy was the lone member of the council to support keeping the single-use bag ban.

When the City Council approved the ban in 2013, the council vote was 4-3, with some city representatives saying they should leave the decision to voters or state legislators. Councilman Jim Katapodis supported the ban then, but said Tuesday that was because state legislation banning the bags was imminent.

In September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the nation’s first statewide single-use bag ban into law and the ban was slated to go into effect in July. However, more than 800,000 signatures were collected for a referendum that, if verified, could put a halt to the legislation and instead put the state’s ban before voters in November 2016.

Staff writer Martin Wisckol contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: lwilliams@ocregister.com, 714-796-2286