Pasadena Can Ban Swap Meet Store

Businessman Paul Cho, who proposed a swap meet-style store in Northwest Pasadena, has no right to open that business with building permits erroneously issued by city staff, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has decided.

But Cho will have an opportunity in an Oct. 30 hearing to persuade the court that the city made an arbitrary decision in deciding against the proposed Fair Oaks Department Store.

The ruling was made Thursday by Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe in a suit brought by Cho against the city of Pasadena.

Cho, who operates the Inglewood Department Store, proposed a similar business at 625 N. Fair Oaks Ave. He remodeled a former Thrifty Drug Store to provide stalls for 38 vendors who would lease space monthly.

After receiving building permits in February and March and making $27,000 worth of renovations, the city informed Cho that his building sits within the boundaries of the Fair Oaks Redevelopment Project and must be reviewed by the residents committee for the project.

The building permits were revoked and Cho’s project was rejected by the committee, the Community Development Committee and the city Board of Directors. In his suit, Cho argued that issuance of the permits, even erroneously, constituted permission to proceed with the project.

But Yaffe said state law and previous court decisions established the right of municipalities to abide by regulations even when harm is done to a developer.