Planners OK coffeehouse permit

Ellen McCarty

FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- The planning commission approved a permit for a new

coffeehouse last week after slashing the business’s nighttime hours

because it will be located near residential homes.

The coffeehouse owners originally proposed operating from 7 a.m. to

midnight on weekends, and then offered a compromise of 11 p.m.

“I request to stay open later on the weekends after movie hours so we can

have a little more business to help pay our bills,” said owner Tu Yen

Pham at the meeting.

But planning staff and commissioners agreed that, until the business has

proven itself worthy of late-night hours, it will have to close by 10

p.m., even on weekends.

Planning Commission member Cheryl Brothers pointed out during a phone

interview Tuesday that the commission may never allow the coffeehouse to

extend its hours. “We have a lot of places in the city’s commercial zones

where I think late night is appropriate, and it’s not by residential

homes,” she said.

Four other businesses at the 16040 Harbor Blvd. retail center sent

letters to the commissioners expressing concerns that a late-night

coffeehouse might compromise safety, as well as the noise level, at the

center.

“There have been some coffeehouses serving as hangouts for gang members

in other cities,” said Ron Sobal, Pham’s leasing agent. “There’s been

some shootings and it’s made the city paranoid. On the other side of

that, you have these innocent people who want to invest a lot of money

into this coffeehouse, and the city is cutting their ability to make a

profit.”

Brothers disagreed with Sobal and said that she voted solely out of a

concern for noise, not gangs.

“Many of us who live near commercial centers know that it’s not the sound

inside, but the people leaving at 11 p.m. at night that causes a

problem,” she said.

Pham, a 38-year-old engineer and resident in Ventura County, said she

decided to open a business in Fountain Valley because she wants to appeal

to a middle-age clientele.

“After the movies, my friends and I don’t know where to go to talk and

get late night cheesecake and coffee,” she said. “It surprised me that

they wouldn’t extend it one or two hours because they were worried about

noise. I don’t see why that’s an excuse, but I guess I’ll have to accept

it.”

When she opens the coffeehouse later this fall, Pham said she expects the

reduced hours to hurt her business “a little bit” and will work hard with

the hope that the planning commission will extend her hours next year.