Council denies Subway

Barbara Diamond

A bid to put a Subway sandwich shop on Broadway was toast Tuesday

after council members could not justify the lack of on-site parking.

The Planning Commission had voted 4 to 0 in November to deny the

proposed shop at 219 Broadway, based on the shop owner’s inability to

comply with the city’s parking regulations. Councilwoman Elizabeth

Pearson appealed the decision.

“Our ordinance doesn’t allow off-site parking, but I remember

situations from my Planning Commission days where it was allowed,”

said Pearson, who earlier in the evening had voted to oppose off-site

parking at Montage Resort and Spa.

Pearson, who chaired the Subway hearing in the absence of Mayor

Cheryl Kinsman, rescinded her appeal after the three other council

members opposed it, and she voted with them to uphold the

commission’s denial.

The shop needed 17 parking spaces to meet city requirements. Three

spaces were grandfathered because a retail shop had been on the site

before city ordinance took effect. The shop was credited with another

three spaces for providing outside food service. None of the six

actually existed.

However, a representative of the property owner said 11 spaces in

an adjacent parking lot would be reserved for the shop.

Unfortunately for applicant Greg Ficke, the city code says the

spaces must be on the same site as the business. It would require a

variance for which legal findings must be made.

“I just can’t make the findings,” Councilman Steve Dicterow said.

Pearson said that the policy should be revisited and that she

would put it on an agenda, and she told Ficke to consider

resubmitting his application.

Besides insufficient parking, the Planning Commission also cited

the shop as a fast food restaurant, which is contrary to the Downtown

specific plan.

“There is a difference between fast food and quick food,”

applicant Greg Ficke said. “McDonald’s, Jack in the Box are fast

food. It is pre-prepared and fried. Subway makes food to order, and

it doesn’t fry anything.”

In her appeal, Pearson said she believed the project was in accord

with the specific plan.

Bette Anderson, speaking on behalf of Village Laguna, said the

project was not unique and did not add to the diversity of Downtown.

She said one Subway in town is enough.

“In all my years living in Laguna, I have been asked many things,

but not once have I been asked if there was a Subway in town,”

resident Curt Mahoney said. “There are those who want to make Laguna

into Corona del Mar, Beverly Hills or Mission Viejo. Thank God for

those who don’t.”

Councilman Wayne Baglin took exception to slights cast on other

communities. People who live in Mission Viejo like Mission Viejo, he

said.

Probably most of the people in the audience were not aware that

the applicant is a member of the Aliso Viejo City Council.

His wife, Julie, disagreed with Village Laguna comments. She said

the proposed shop would add to the Downtown.

“It will not look like the everyday chain restaurant,” she said.

“It will be unique.”

Applicant Ficke said he planned to make the shop Laguna-specific

by deviating from the usual Subway signage colors he described as

gaudy and decorating the interior with artwork by local painters and

old Laguna Playhouse playbills.

He also said he would add to the products sold in other Subways.

“I got approval to toast,” he said.

However, he declined Pearson’s request to name the shop something

other than Subway -- just as the Ace Hardware Store in Laguna is

called Coast Hardware.

“If I were writing a book, the title of this chapter would be

‘Permission to Toast,’” Councilwoman Toni Iseman said. “That is the

essence of the issue. To have to get permission to toast is the

antithesis of what Laguna is.”