A seemingly minor municipal code amendment turned the Hermosa Beach Planning Commission’s Tuesday night meeting into a conversation over the forces that should shape the city’s downtown.
The commission narrowly rejected a resolution recommending changes to parking requirements that would have eased the burden downtown restaurants face in expanding their footprint. Commissioners cited concerns that such a change would further tilt the balance of tenants in the area toward restaurants and away from retail.
The proposed change has been circulating for approximately a year. It is one of 11 concepts identified in the city’s Downtown Core Revitalization Strategy to address parking issues. While a motion to approve the amendments failed 2-3, commissioners voted 4-1 to have staff return with a report jointly presenting the potential effects of all 11 proposals.
Current downtown parking regulations require that, if an occupant wishes to convert an existing structure under 5,000 square feet from non-restaurant use to restaurant use, then the parking requirements for the new facility will be calculated anew. For example, if a 3000-square-foot dress shop in the city were to be converted into a restaurant, the parking requirements for the new eatery would not include the parking spaces already allocated to the clothier.
Such a restriction does not exist for structures larger than 5,000 sqaure feet, or in other areas of Hermosa Beach. And given that parking requirements are often addressed by paying in lieu fees to the city, they can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost expanding a restaurant.
Among the residents supporting the change was Ron Newman, owner of Baja Sharkeez and Palmilla.
“You’re already giving credit to places 5,000 square feet and above, which makes no sense,” Newman said, “Why would you want to encourage huge places?”
City staff had recommended correcting the disparity. But some commissioners were convinced that the difference, enacted decades ago, existed for a reason.
“I keep asking myself, was this just a mistake?” said Planning Commission Chairman Peter Hoffman. “And I have to believe there was some logic to it. [The authors of the code] were trying to maintain small retail establishments.”
Other commissioners felt that, even if this were true, it was a mistake for the commission to attempt to dictate what kind of land uses should fill the area.
“If the free market wants restaurants to prevail, then let there be restaurants,” said Commissioner Rob Saeman.
