Decision on Seal Beach Pier Restaurant Postponed by Council

The Seal Beach City Council postponed a decision Monday night on a proposed restaurant operation for the Seal Beach Pier because council members want to make further changes in the proposed lease and because a key councilman was absent.

Amid continued citizens’ complaints and concerns expressed Monday by state Department of Fish and Game officials that the eatery might be incompatible with “the fisherman’s experience,” the City Council voted unanimously to continue its discussion of the lease until Monday.

Councilman Victor Grgas, whose district includes the pier, was spending his first day on the job as Montebello’s assistant city manager and was not at Monday’s meeting.

Plans for an upscale dinner house, named the Fisherman’s Restaurant, have charged this city of 28,000 with contention since the Seal Beach city staff placed it on the council agenda for its April 13 meeting.

The city has been negotiating changes of the proposed lease agreement with H.E.G. Enterprises Inc. and its president, Hal Griffith, a Seattle developer. Community members have also been included in the almost daily negotiations, according to City Manager Bob Nelson.

A state official on Monday expressed concern about the restaurant planned for the pier. State funds helped rebuild the facility after it was destroyed in 1983 winter storms.

“They certainly don’t have the prior written approval from the state,” said Al Rutsch, assistant executive officer of the state Department of Fish and Game Wildlife Conservation Board, which gave the city $388,000 to help rebuild the pier.

“It’s required that the city notify us of the use or proposed use changes and that they get prior approval,” Rutsch said. “We nor the California Coastal Conservancy had even heard of this until the public got involved.”