Laguna Tourist Shop Influx Spurs New Business Curbs

The proliferation of ice cream parlors and T-shirt shops, the loss of resident-oriented stores and the increased use of alcohol on the beaches has prompted the Laguna Beach City Council to place a temporary moratorium on new businesses.

The two-fold urgency ordinance prohibits any new business within 200 yards of Main Beach that sells liquor to go, and also requires that any new downtown business be reviewed by the city’s Board of Adjustment in order to receive a conditional use permit.

In the past, a new business merely needed to meet zoning requirements and obtain a business permit.

The new restrictions came in response to the proliferation of cookie stores, ice cream parlors and T-shirt shops that have sprouted up around the downtown area in the last few years, City Manager Ken Frank said. Also, the city cannot regulate its no-liquor ban on city beaches, partially because of the availability of alcohol nearby, he said.

In the downtown area recently, the city has lost resident-oriented stores, such as art, appliance and beauty products shops.

“Residents are losing places they can shop at and are forced to go out of town while we’re getting ice cream stores in numbers we can’t believe,” Frank said. In a three-block stretch, there are four ice cream shops and two candy stores, he added.

The ordinance goes into effect immediately and will last for 45 days, but the council can extend it.

The council passed the urgency ordinance because of applications for new businesses and because of rumors that more liquor stores and ice cream parlors want to locate downtown, Frank said.

Also, city officials plan to draw up an outline of the future of downtown development. There was concern that the area would be converted to tourist-oriented stores before the plan could be written.

One of the major areas of study for the plan, Frank said, would be “what type of mix of business there should be so we can serve Laguna Beach residents, so we can serve people who come into the city on a day basis, and serve the tourists who come on a weekly or monthly basis.”

Council members are scheduled to begin discussing the plan in February.