ITEM 7-A
Council Mtg: November 10, 1992
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Appeal of Conditional Use Permit 92-007 to Allow the
Issuance of Six Type-41 (On-Sale Beer and Wine) Alcohol
Licenses for an Eight-Tenant Food Court at 1315 3rd
Street Promenade.
Applicant: Christian Title
Appellant: Trisha Roth
INTRODUCTION
This report recommends that the City Council deny the appeal and
uphold the Planning Commission approval of the Conditional Use
Permit.
BACKGROUND
In November 1989, the Zoning Administrator granted an
Administrative Approval to allow the construction of the
Criterion Theatre Plaza, a five-story, 23,600 square foot mixed
use building with approximately 9,600 square feet of restaurant
space on the first and second floors, and approximately 14,000
square feet of office and studio space on the third, fourth and
fifth floors. The layout of the restaurant space is designed in
a food court configuration with eight separate tenant spaces and
a common seating area. The Administrative Approval was to allow
the construction of the project and the restaurant uses, but did
not permit the issuance of alcohol licenses for the restaurants.
In July 1992 the Planning Commission approved a Conditional Use
Permit to allow the sale and consumption of alcohol in the food
court. The Commission granted a total of seven Conditional Use
Permits; one to allow the consumption of alcohol in the common
seating area and six to allow the sale of alcohol in six of the
eight food court spaces. All seven of the Conditional Use
Permits were issued to the building owner, who will be
responsible for the common seating area, as well as the leasing
of the food court spaces. This arrangement was recommended by
the City Attorney's office. The Planning Commission approved
the project by a vote of five to two. The two Commissioners who
voted against the project expressed a concern about the
over-concentration of alcohol outlets in the downtown area. On
July 29, 1992 the approval was appealed by Trisha Roth.
Project Design
The food court will consist of eight tenant spaces and 400 seats
in a first and second floor common seating area. As proposed,
six of the eight tenant spaces would obtain a Type-41 alcohol
license. The mix of tenants would be as follows:
First Level
Space "A" - Mesquite Bar-B-Que Grillery (Alcohol License)
Space "B" - Baja Bud's Mexican Food (Alcohol License)
Space "C" - Lisa's Cookies & Yogurt (No Alcohol)
Space "D" - Mon-kee's Chinese Food (Alcohol License)
Space "E" - La Mocha Gourmet Coffees & Teas (No Alcohol)
Second Level
Space "F" - Daily Grill (Alcohol License)
Space "G" - Un-leased (Alcohol License)
Space "H" - Un-leased (Alcohol License)
While spaces "G" and "H" are not yet leased, the applicant is
requesting that the tenants of the two un-leased spaces be able
to obtain an alcohol license.
In previous meetings with the applicant, staff expressed concern
about the food court concept of the project in relation to the
ability of the alcohol servers to monitor customers after they
purchase alcohol from an individual restaurant tenant and then
take a seat in the common seating area. In response, the appli-
cant has stated in the attached letter (Attachment A), that there
will be bus people and floor managers located throughout the
seating area who will monitor customers in relation to alcohol
consumption.
Staff also informed the applicant that alcohol consumption at
tables located along the public passageway could pose a problem
in relation to people passing through the area. The applicant
has proposed the installation of 42" high barrier rails adjacent
to each passageway table in order to address this potential
problem. The Planning Commission approval allows alcohol
consumption along the public passageway, as long as the barrier
rails as proposed by the applicant are installed.
Neither of the two existing food courts located in the downtown
area (Eatz at Santa Monica Place and Galleria Gourmet at 1437 3rd
Street Promenade) have alcohol licenses. However, beer and wine
is served at other food courts in the Los Angeles area. As noted
in the applicant's letter, beer and wine is available in the food
court at Westside Pavilion and at Farmer's Market at Third Street
and Fairfax in Los Angeles. The applicant has stated that the
serving of beer and wine at these locations has not resulted in
any problems. Staff contacted the management office of the
Westside Pavilion was told that the management was not aware of
any problems that have resulted from the sale of beer and wine in
the food court area.
The applicant has stated that alcohol typically accounts for a
small percentage of the gross revenue for food court tenants.
The Planning Commission approved the project with a condition
that no more than 35% of gross revenues from each tenant be from
alcohol sales. The applicant has agreed to this condition of
approval.
In response to a request for comments from the Police Department
about the outlet, a representative stated that the data the
Police Department has gathered does not lead to a negative
recommendation and the department does not have specific comments
about this particular application. Further, although the
department has concerns about the number of alcohol outlets in
the Promenade area, it recognizes that the Council has addressed
this issue by adopting a moratorium on additional outlets in the
Bayside District.
Parking
The Zoning Ordinance parking requirements for the restaurant uses
would normally be 128 spaces, based on a ratio of one parking
space for every 75 square feet of floor area. However, the
project is located in the Downtown Parking Assessment District
and is not required to provide parking. According to the Parking
Demand Analysis for the Third Street Promenade/Bayside District
prepared by Kaku Associates in May 1991, at that time, the six
City parking structures were operating at a weekday peak of 60%
occupancy, resulting in a surplus of 1252 parking spaces, and a
weekend peak occupancy of 61%, resulting in a surplus of 1228
parking spaces. Based on the surplus of available parking in the
structures, the facility is not expected to result in a shortage
of parking. Furthermore, the types of establishments planned for
the food court are not intended to be destination points, but are
more likely to be utilized by office workers, theatre patrons,
and other people who are already in the area.
Alcohol License
Within a 500' radius of the site, there are six Type-41 (on-sale
beer and wine for public eating place) alcohol licenses, ten
Type-47 (on-sale general for public eating place) alcohol licen-
ses, and one Type-48 (on-sale general for public premises) al-
cohol license. These include the following:
Type-41 (On-Sale Beer and Wine for Public Eating Place)
Pizza Contorni (176 seats) 1333 2nd Street
Taka Sushi (58 seats) 1345 2nd Street
Cibo (50 seats) 1246 3rd Street
Gaucho Grill (82 seats) 1251 3rd Street
Bravo Cucina (80 seats) 1319 3rd Street
Papa George's (50 seats) 1321 3rd Street
Vic's Restaurant (99 seats) 1333 3rd Street
Early World (75 seats) 401 Santa Monica Blvd.
Type-47 (On-Sale General for Public Eating Place)
3rd Street Pub (105 seats) 1240 3rd Street
Legend's (300 seats) 1311 3rd Street
Teaser's (150 seats) 1351 3rd Street
Trilussa (360 seats) 1360 3rd Street
King George (117 seats) 301 Santa Monica Blvd.
Amazon Grill (49 seats) 307 Santa Monica Blvd.
Jazz Club (393 seats) 309 Santa Monica Blvd. (Not Open)
Tony Roma's (105 seats) 319 Santa Monica Blvd.
Type-48 (On-Sale General for Public Premises)
The Improv (875 seats) 321 Santa Monica Blvd.
According to the 1990 Census, there is a residential population
of 185 people within a 500' radius of the site.
Bayside District Specific Plan Update
In June 1992, the Planning Commission made recommendations to the
City Council on the update to the Bayside District Specific Plan.
The Commission's comments included a recommendation that, with
the exception of four pending applications, there be no more al-
cohol outlets approved in the Bayside District Specific Plan
area. The Conditional Use Permit for the Criterion Theater Plaza
food court was one of the pending applications that the Planning
Commission exempted from their recommendation. As stated pre-
viously, in July 1992 the Planning Commission approved a Condi-
tional Use Permit for the food court alcohol licenses.
On September 15, 1992, the City Council adopted an emergency or-
dinance (Ordinance 1644 (CCS)) establishing a limit on the number
of alcohol and food serving establishments in the Bayside Dis-
trict. The Council's limit allowed for two additional outlets in
the 1300 block of the Promenade. On September 29, 1992 the
Council approved a Conditional Use Permit for Vic's Restaurant at
1333 3rd Street Promenade. The approval of Vic's left one
available outlet in the 1300 block of the Promenade. The
remaining available outlet has been intended for the subject
application. In terms of the Planning Commission and City
Council discussion, even though the proposed project includes six
alcohol licenses and seven Conditional Use Permits, it is
considered one alcohol "outlet".
Appeal
The appellant filed the appeal of the Planning Commission
approval based on several concerns relating to the sale and
consumption of alcohol. As stated in the attached appeal form
dated 07/29/92 (Attachment B), the appellant has raised concerns
about what she feels is an over-concentration of alcohol outlets
in the area, the lack of local police and ABC enforcement
personnel, a failure to enforce health code warnings, the high
cost of alcohol versus the financial benefit to the community,
sales of alcohol to minors and potential increased gang activity.
The City Council has addressed the over-concentration issue in
the downtown area by establishing a limit on the total number of
alcohol outlets. The appellant has raised several issues relat-
ing to enforcement and health issues, but it is not clear from
the information submitted by the appellant how the proposed
licenses will result in increased enforcement problems or health
risks. The proposed alcohol licenses will be for a food court
where the service of alcohol will be ancillary to the primary use
of the premises as a food serving facility. The Planning
Commission approved the project with several conditions which
will ensure that the project will be compatible with the
existing uses in the surrounding area.
Conclusion
The issuance of type-41 alcohol licenses for the food court ten-
ants complies with the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance, the
existing Third Street Mall Specific Plan, the proposed Bayside
District Specific Plan and Ordinance 1644. Adequate parking is
available in the City parking structures. With the recommended
conditions of approval, the use will be compatible and will com-
pliment existing uses in the Bayside District.
PUBLIC NOTIFICATION
Pursuant to Municipal Code Section 9130.8, within 30 days after
the subject application was deemed complete, the applicant posted
a sign on the property as required. In addition, pursuant to
Municipal Code Section 9131.5, notice of the public hearing was
mailed to all owners and residential and commercial tenants of
property located within a 500 foot radius of the project at least
ten consecutive calendar days prior to the hearing. A copy of
the notice is contained in Attachment C.
BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT
The recommendation presented in this report does not have any
budget or fiscal impact.
RECOMMENDATION
It is respectfully recommended that the Council deny the appeal
and uphold the Planning Commission approval of Conditional Use
Permit 92-007 with the findings and conditions contained in the
Planning Commission Statements of Official Action (Attachments D
and E).
Prepared by: D. Kenyon Webster, Planning Manager
David Martin, Associate Planner
Planning Division
Land Use and Transportation Management Department
Attachments: A. Letter from applicant
B. Appeal form dated 07/29/92
C. Notice of Public Hearing
D. Statement of Official Action for CUP 92-007
E. Statement of Official Action for CUP 92-007a