BUENA PARK : Plan Allows Offices in Area for Tourists

Professional offices will now be allowed in a plan that spruces up Buena Park’s entertainment and tourist area.

The City Council on Monday gave approval of a plan to expand the Beach Boulevard entertainment corridor to include properties on the south side of La Palma Avenue and along the west side of Stanton Avenue, and to permit professional offices there.

The area, called the Paseo de Plaza subdistrict, covers 11 acres and 13 parcels.

Property owners and tenants raised concerns to the council in January because the plan would not have allowed office use and instead promoted only entertainment and tourist developments. The council agreed then that professional offices should be permitted and had directed staff to amend the plan.

There is a three-story office building on Stanton Avenue and a neighborhood shopping center on La Palma Avenue, which has professional offices, including an income tax firm and a travel agency.

Facilities used primarily for offices will be allowed on Stanton Avenue and secondarily within a multi-tenant commercial development along La Palma Avenue, said Rick Warsinski, assistant director of development services.

Warsinski said expanding the area will provide a link between the tourist-oriented activities along Beach Boulevard, which include Knott’s Berry Farm and the Movieland Wax Museum, with the Buena Park Mall on nearby La Palma Avenue.

He also said the plan’s aim is to promote more pedestrian tourist traffic between the existing attractions and the mall as well as to encourage property owners to make visual improvements to their buildings.

The plan imposes a Spanish colonial theme for building exteriors and also has guidelines for signs.

Over the long term, the plan also promotes the development of additional tourist-oriented businesses to complement the Beach Boulevard attractions.