New demands on new shops

Mike Swanson

New businesses moving Downtown and businesses changing Downtown

locations can expect a rougher road toward city approval after the

council’s May 6 ruling that a beauty shop owner from Laguna Niguel

needed a city permit to move in on Forest Avenue.

City staff told Stanley Sir on April 10 that he would not need the

conditional use permit for his retail beauty supply store and salon,

but the City Council disagreed in a 2-1 vote on May 6. Cheryl Kinsman

recused herself, and Steve Dicterow was absent.

The Planning Commission ruled last week that, based on the

council’s decision, it could not issue Sir a permit.

“[The City Council’s] policy seems to be one that now says any

change of use, no matter how minor, will require a new [permit],”

Planning Commissioner Norm Grossman said. “So if it isn’t the same

exact business with the same exact name with the same exact product

line, then you’ll need a [permit].”

City staff said Sir’s store, Beauty and More, didn’t need a

conditional use permit because a change in use didn’t occur by moving

to a site previously occupied by Ropage Beauty Supply, which moved to

Ocean Avenue after its rent changed.

Several residents spoke against Sir’s move Downtown at the

Planning Commission meeting on May 28, with most pointing out that it

contradicted Laguna Beach’s Downtown Specific Plan, which focuses on

keeping Downtown stores diverse and unique.

“We survive by being convenient for the locals and a unique and

variant shopping experience,” said Mark Christy, owner of Hobie

Sports and other Downtown businesses. “To draw visitors from the

outside, we need to keep Laguna Beach unique.

“We’re not just looking at 272 Forest Ave. We’re looking at the

entire pizza. We’re looking at the shopping mall of Downtown Laguna

Beach.”

Resident Andy Allison said Downtown landlords need to start paying

more attention to the Downtown Specific Plan and less to maximizing

rent.

“What I see that we clearly have here is a landlord who is taking

advantage of what was an existing business, raising rents up, and

then trying to bring the same business back in,” Allison said, “which

is really a slap in the face of Laguna and what we’re trying to do

Downtown.”

Ken Delino, president of the Chamber of Commerce, spoke against

issuing of the permit and echoed Allison’s sentiment that a

landlords’ responsibility to the whole of Downtown is the central

issue.

Sir said he understands community members’ concerns, but

neighborhood complaints shouldn’t override the law. He said lawyers

are looking into the ruling to see if he has a case against the city.

“Business should be handled by service, selection and price, [and

it’s] not to be manipulated by certain systems,” Sir said.

John Loper, vice president of Fritz Duda Company in Newport Beach,

which manages the property at 272 Forest Ave., announced at the May

28 meeting that he and Sir were hoping to get the permit considering

the City Council’s ruling, but still didn’t understand why they

needed one.

“This [permit] is being sought under protest,” Loper said at the

meeting. “We reserve our right to exercise all of our remedies

against the city in connection with the city’s determination that Mr.

Sir’s proposed use is a grand-fathered, legal, nonconforming use.”

Grossman said he expects the denial to make movement into and

within Downtown much more difficult, and wouldn’t be surprised to see

some of those lobbying against Sir’s move Downtown affected in the

future.

“I think the chamber doesn’t realize what this does,” Grossman

said. “Many of their members, one day, will want to move. This is

going to make crossing the street or even moving into a larger suite

in the same building extremely difficult.”

City Atty. Phil Kohn was asked at a joint meeting between the

Planning Commission and City Council on Saturday to find the most

strict way to clarify conditional use permit law, Grossman said, and

the issue of interpreting the law will likely be on an upcoming City

Council agenda.

Sir, meanwhile, is considering an appeal of what he thinks could

be a landmark case.

“It’s a funny city,” Sir said. “I’ve never experienced something

like this, but it’s getting to the point that I feel I need to make a

point that you can’t be above the law. I may be too small to do what

I want to do, but somebody needs to make a point.”

Sir owns two beauty supply stores, one in Costa Mesa and one in

Foothill Ranch. He said 50 to 60 Laguna Beach residents drive to his

Costa Mesa store to buy his products.

Only one resident spoke at the Planning Commission meeting on

Sir’s behalf, countering those who cited the Downtown Specific Plan

and the surplus of beauty supply stores already Downtown and in the

whole of Laguna Beach.

“Competition is healthy,” said Len Weinstein, owner of Ropage.

“There’s no question about that, but excessive redundancy will have a

negative impact on all of the Downtown.”

The city clerk said the property owner at 272 Forest Ave. picked

up an appeal form on June 3 and that he and Sir have until June 11 to

file.