Subway shop torpedoed

Barbara Diamond

A Subway sandwich shop proposed for Broadway has failed to pass

“mustard” with the City Council.

The council split 2-2 -- with Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman recusing

herself from the vote -- on a proposal by a franchise owner to

operate the shop at 219 Broadway. A 2-2 vote by a city board is an

automatic denial.

At issue was whether adding soup to its menu and peanut butter and

bananas to its sandwich ingredients lifted the shop out of the

definition of a formula-based business. Such “chain store”-type

businesses are discouraged by the Downtown Specific Plan.

The plan also precludes restaurants in the “fast food” category,

except in the food court near the corner of Broadway and South Coast

Highway.

“I wanted to rent space in the food court, but the owner turned me

down,” franchise spokesman Greg Ficke said. “Then he went directly to

Subway. He was turned down because Subway already had a relationship

with me.”

However, Ficke claimed his shop would not be a carbon copy of

other Subways, but custom-built, staffed and provisioned to fit

Laguna’s specifications for diversity that would exempt the shop from

the fast-food, formula-based prohibition.

“We will have the traditional Subway ingredients, but so much

more,” Fiske said. “We will be the only Subway to offer salads.”

The last Subway applicant for the Broadway location also claimed

his proposal was different -- he had gotten permission to toast bread

for sandwiches.

Ficke kicked it up a notch with a guarantee that the counter staff

would not wear the usual Subway uniforms, and the restaurant sign

would differ from the corporate standard.

Even so, city staff recommended against the approval, based on its

finding that the shop met the city criteria for fast-food and

formula-based businesses.

City Planner Monica Tuchscher noted that the restaurant, in

whatever category it fit, would replace retail space, not favored by

the specific plan. Staff also had an issue with the parking plan,

which was proposed on an adjacent private lot with substandard stall

lengths, and because three of the required spaces were not actual

spaces but “credits” granted by earlier uses.

Ficke said the space he proposed to rent had been vacant for four

years.

Former Planning Commissioner Barbara Metzger, speaking for Village

Laguna, claimed the retailer at that location was ousted by the

building owner while still a viable business and tenant.

“You [council] are asked to replace traditional resident-serving

retail space with what the company itself calls the largest fast-food

chain in the U.S.,” said Becky Jones, also a former commissioner.

“The franchise owner has said he expects 90% of his business to be

takeout. That is a [traffic] circulation nightmare,” she added.

Jones said approving Subway would open the door to whatever

fast-food restaurant wanted entree to the downtown.

“And any Subway will make a salad if it’s requested,” Jones said.

The Planning Commission recommended 5-0 against approval, citing

their inability to make the necessary findings for approval.

“Subway has 80,000 restaurants in 34 cities, which led the

commission to decide it was formula based,” Tuchscher said. One of

those cities is Laguna Beach, near Cress Street.

Council members Toni Iseman and Jane Egly also could not make the

findings and voted to deny the appeal.

Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider and Mayor Pro Tem Steven

Dicterow voted to overturn the Planning Commission.

The split vote canceled one another and the Subway proposal.