City planners discuss future of downtown retail and restaurants

The Laguna Beach Planning Commission has plenty of notes to pore over in the coming months as the city shapes the future of downtown retail and restaurants.

At a public meeting Thursday, the City Council directed commissioners to suggest changes to rules governing the types of stores and eateries.

Myriad ideas and opinions flowed during the session led by MIG, an urban planning firm the city hired to suggest improvements to Laguna’s downtown specific plan, a document that outlines planning and development rules. The council adopted the original plan in 1989 and it has been amended nine times, most recently in 2008.

The council and commission agreed that the conditional use permit process should be streamlined to make it faster for businesses that satisfy requirements.

Thursday’s discussion focused solely on retail and conditional-use permit components of the plan.

Future meetings will center on parking, though a few speakers wanted to discuss that Thursday, saying the relationship between the number of spaces an owner must provide is crucial to whether an entrepreneur wants to come to Laguna.

Michael Berne, a retail consultant hired by MIG, said planners shouldn’t look at all businesses the same. He said clothing stores would benefit from having more options for consumers while a specialized service such as dry cleaning would more likely be harmed by competition.

“When we limit the number of operators in a category, we’re potentially creating conditions for limited competition and higher prices,” Berne said.

Laguna’s high commercial rents also were discussed.

MIG compared demographics from Laguna to other beach side cities such as Newport Beach, Dana Point, Encinitas and Santa Barbara and found Laguna Beach and Santa Barbara have the highest percentages of businesses that spend between $100,000 and $250,000 in annual rent at 10% and 13%, respectively, according to MIG’s report.

The high rent affects what types of businesses can succeed in Laguna, limiting options.

Commissioner Susan Whitin suggested seeking stores that would offer products invented in Laguna Beach as a way to enliven downtown and provide variety. She listed surfwear, fins and artists’ works as examples.

“I find the whole retail [scene] very flat, there is nothing special about it,” Whitin said. “I’m not an active shopper, but it doesn’t do a whole lot for me. Compare it to a good pedestrian shopping experience in West L.A. near the Beverly Center. There is a mix of food, clothing, curated art stores, great coffee shops, quirky things. All we have here is clothing, ice cream. We have a lot of clothing stores. [Bushard’s] Pharmacy is a great anchor.”

Councilman and lifelong Laguna resident Kelly Boyd acknowledged Whitin’s suggestion but said higher rents make those kinds of businesses unfeasible.

“That would be hard to do,” Boyd said. “We never had a surfboard shop in Laguna. It was Dana Point, that is where Hobie [Alter] was. Mark Christy carries surfboards and skateboards [at Hobie’s Laguna store]. There are certain things, that because of rents, that this isn’t going to happen. People aren’t going to be able to make it with those objects. It’s unfortunate and I hate to say that.”

Concerns about market saturation and whether the city should limit the number of establishments in a certain sector are nothing new in Laguna.

Clothing stores entered the spotlight earlier this year when Jenni and Sammy Elmished, who owned an existing Laguna business, received Planning Commission approval to open a new store called Casual on Forest Avenue.

A few downtown business owners said the area had reached capacity in the clothing market and accused the Elmisheds of carrying lines similar to those in other Laguna shops.

Berne suggested city leaders consider different kinds of food establishments such as craft breweries and wine bars, but some residents cautioned against adding more alcohol-serving locations in a city noted for its DUI-related incidents.

Laguna Beach police arrested 581 people in 2012 on suspicion of driving under the influence, the most of 105 similar-sized cities in the state.

The next downtown plan meeting is tentatively set for Jan. 27.