Sapphire appeased

Sapphire restaurant’s record of good management and glowing reputation convinced the Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday to expand the hours of operation and eliminate a requirement for valet parking.

The council split the difference between the restaurateur’s request to extend the operating hours to 7 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week and the Planning Commission’s recommendation to limit the extension to Friday and Saturday nights. Valet parking was made optional. Both decisions required amendments to the restaurant’s conditional use permit.

“This is a classy restaurant that comes in and does everything right,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Schneider said. “But the last guy in always get the toughest conditions.”

Sapphire is located in the Old Pottery Place on the corner of South Coast Highway and Brooks Street, in an area with a lot of competition for dining and drinking dollars. Residents have bitterly complained about noise and traffic. But not about Sapphire, which has been in business for less than a year.

“So far, 100,000 people have come to the restaurant, and there has never been a 911 call,” restaurateur Azmin Ghahreman said.

Resident Darrylin Girvin said although there have been no complaints about noise, she opposed the extension of operating hours.

“It is a burden on neighbors,” Girvin said. “To extend it is going overboard, and it will set a precedent.”

Sapphire landlord Joe Hanauer said no precedent would be set by the extended hours because other establishments in the area already stay open later.

“Why wouldn’t you approve?” Hanauer said. “You can always pull it back.”

Village Laguna President Anne Caenn read a letter from the board opposing the extension of the hours. Caenn said the board thinks that the Planning Commission was generous and that the requested hours were inappropriate.

South Laguna resident Ginger Osborne voiced concerns about the proliferation of bars in Laguna.

“Extended hours signify [Sapphire] is a bar,” she said.

The Sapphire bar has 12 seats, but alcohol is also served to diners inside and on the patio.

“This is not about a bar,” Ghahreman said. “I just want to be able to serve my customers.”

Ritz-Carlton Director Tom Brennan said the area needs a restaurant that stays open later for customers who habitually dine later.

Restaurant critic and Parking, Traffic and Circulation Committee member Dennis Meyers said wherever he goes, he is asked whether he has eaten at Sapphire.

“Of course I have,” Meyers said. “The restaurant has built a tremendous reputation in a short time.”

Furthermore, Meyers said, it is not formula-based.

“The restaurant is truly an asset to the city,” Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman said.

Objections also were raised to the amendment to the valet parking requirement, making that optional.

“We need that at night when neighbors are at home,” Girvin said.

Meyers opined that valet parking is more likely to foster street parking, but probably didn’t have much impact on residential neighbors.

“Valet parking scares people away,” he said. “It indicates that the driver will have to pay some charge, if only a tip, and they will go out and seek a space closest to their destination. But they won’t drive around and around.”

Hanauer said there has been no charge for valet parking at the Old Pottery Place, but people don’t like it because they don’t want to turn over the keys to their vehicles so they drive around looking for a metered space anyway.

“I don’t want anybody driving my car,” Councilwoman Toni Iseman said. “And I don’t want to tip.”

Nor does she want to wait around for someone to find her car and bring it to her, giving her support to the elimination of the valet parking requirement.

“The restaurant has 113 seats,” Hanauer said. “We have 84 parking spaces. About 2/3 of the customers would have to drive themselves to fill the garage.”

The request to amend the valet parking requirement in the restaurant’s conditional use permit went directly to the council, rather than by way of the Planning Commission, because the council imposed the condition.

Conditional use permits include a date for review. However, legitimate complaints may trigger a review at any time.