SEAL BEACH : City OKs Reports on Business Expansions

In an ambitious attempt to assess how business expansions affect nearby residents, Seal Beach will now require business owners to provide environmental reports when seeking city approval to remodel, increase hours or expand their shops.

The new rules, approved last week by the City Council, come in response to the longstanding complaints of some residents who say Main Street business modifications have increased the area’s traffic, noise and parking problems.

Some neighborhood residents approved the move, while city business leaders scorned the decision as just one more instance of the city siding with residents at the expense of merchants.

The new rules are unique because they force merchants to measure environmental impacts in a manner usually reserved for new developments.

The rules seek to address a longstanding criticism made by some residents that even the most seemingly modest modifications made to businesses sometimes have a negative impact.

Affected by the move are merchants on Ocean Avenue and Main Street.

Under the new rules, merchants seeking to modify their businesses will be required to complete a city questionnaire designed to assess how the changes will affect the surrounding community.

City planning officials will then analyze the document to determine if additional studies are needed. If so, merchants will be asked to pay for a city-hired consultant to complete a more detailed environmental report.

The report should determine how proposed changes will affect the area’s parking, traffic and noise conditions. It might also address whether the changes are desirable for the community or will create a “cluster” of one type of business in a certain area.

This report, while less pricey and complicated than a formal environmental impact report, can cost merchants anywhere from $3,000 to $25,000.

That price tag has some business leaders worried.

“A business could not afford that kind of thing,” said John Baker, owner of Nip ‘n’ Stuff Liquor and a former leader of the local business association. “It’s the kind of thing that could bankrupt a small business.”

Some residents disagreed, saying they hope that the requirements will give city officials a better sense of how changes at businesses affect their lives.

At least one community activist, however, said the city hasn’t gone far enough.

Charles Antos, a resident and planner for Orange County, said the rules are a “Band-Aid approach” to the situation. He criticized the measures as being too vague and said the city should go further in requiring that businesses provide ample parking for customers.

Antos and others acknowledged that the rules are fairly strict when compared to many other Orange County cities. But he said that because of the proximity of Seal Beach’s business district to residential areas, more must be done to improve the traffic and parking problems.