Time Will Be Used to Plan Development : Buena Park Extends Beach Boulevard Freeze

The Buena Park City Council Monday night approved a 10-month extension--with one exception--of a freeze on development in a commercial-entertainment zone that extends along Beach Boulevard for about a mile.

The 4-0 vote lengthened an existing 45-day moratorium on development. City officials said the additional time will be used to draw up a comprehensive plan for future development.

The one exception to the freeze, approved by the council in a related action Monday night, was a special development agreement allowing construction of a retail and restaurant center on a parcel of land on Beach Boulevard in the commercial-entertainment zone.

The freeze, in the form of an interim zoning ordinance, affects a strip of Beach Boulevard between Orangethorpe and Crescent avenues. The city’s primary tourist attractions, Knott’s Berry Farm and the Movieland Wax Museum, are on that section of the boulevard.

The vote was aimed at protecting the area as a tourist attraction and family entertainment center, said newly elected Mayor Don R. Griffin.

Despite previous land-use restrictions, there are two X-rated movie theaters and several retail shops along the strip. This type of development does not fit the entertainment zone’s intended use, Griffin said.

“Because we have people come into Buena Park and spend millions of dollars (on tourism), I think we owe it to maintain and be consistent in regard to the utilization of property,” he said.

Under the interim zoning ordinance passed Monday, all new development proposals in the area will be frozen until Oct. 3, 1987 while the city studies the area’s growth patterns and projected land uses, said Rick Sowder, Buena Park zoning administrator.

“It prohibits the acceptance of applications (for development) and it prohibits the acceptance of building permits, except for interior modifications under existing uses,” Sowder said.

The extension is needed to “develop a study which would come up with a comprehensive civic plan that guides and encourages development of the entertainment core,” Sowder said Monday afternoon. The city’s goal, Sowder said, is to ensure “a more cohesive and unified environment by strengthening the physical, social and economic ties between the land uses.”

An outside planning firm will be retained to aid in the study, he said. The city has received proposals from several consulting firms, and Sowder said he hopes to present a contract proposal to the council by Dec. 1.

The center that is to be the single exception to the freeze will house retail shops and at least two restaurants, Sowder said.

The Planning Commission had originally approved the center, but its approval was overturned by the council Oct. 6 when the 45-day development freeze was enacted. Monday’s action removed the commercial-entertainment designation from the property, and replaced it with a special zoning agreement negotiated with the developers, Sowder said.

In other action Monday, the council approved a hazardous materials inventory program designed to identify the location of flammable and toxic chemicals.

Under the state’s Hazardous Materials Disclosure Act, businesses are required to provide local officials with a detailed inventory of hazardous materials on their property.

Any business that handles 55 gallons, 500 pounds or 200 cubic feet or more of a potentially harmful liquid, solid or gas must give local officials annual lists of every chemical on hand, said Buena Park Fire Marshal Donald Tully.

Questionnaires will be sent within 30 days, asking businesses to identify the chemicals stored on site, Tully said.

This information will be computerized, and if there is a fire at a storage site, “we’ll be forewarned that a hazardous situation exists,” Tully said.

The council elected Griffin as mayor for the next year. He previously served as mayor pro tem.