SEAL BEACH : Restaurant Rules List to Be Considered

The city is one step closer to having a comprehensive checklist that covers one of the city’s most divisive issues: how late restaurants can stay open and when alcohol can be served.

The list, designed to help city officials set hours and alcohol rules for bars and restaurants, was presented to the Planning Commission this week.

The panel is set to discuss and possibly vote on the document at its Dec. 9 meeting.

The checklist is not a set of guidelines. Rather, it details about 30 concerns often expressed about alcohol sales and operating hours that planning commissioners and the city staff should consider when making decisions on such matters.

Among the issues addressed are whether an establishment’s parking lot is well-lit and if employees are trained to detect drunkenness and deter patrons from driving under the influence of alcohol.

Another topic: whether granting an establishment later hours will mean noisy trash dumping at night.

The checklist was prompted in part by complaints from residents who live around Seal Beach’s Main Street business district.

Some residents have long contended that nighttime alcohol sales at Main Street restaurants bring loud patrons into the nearby residential area.

Seal Beach officials said they hope the new checklist will better address the effects that restaurants alcohol sales create.