LA HABRA : City Council Rejects Billiard Parlor Plan

A proposed billiard parlor and arcade that sought to do business in a neighborhood where residents opposed it will not be allowed to open.

The City Council last week turned down an appeal from the owners of the business, which wanted to operate the billiard parlor on La Habra Boulevard.

Seabo Karapetian left the council meeting angry and disappointed. “This is a rotten, awful decision,” he said. “It’s not fair.”

Karapetian said that since applying for a business operating license in June, he has spent nearly $6,000 on city fees and to pay traffic engineers for a parking and traffic study, which was recommended by city planners.

The city’s Traffic Commission unanimously approved the project, which would have operated 16 pool tables and 10 video games and sold beer and wine, but Planning Commissioners unanimously voted against it in September after residents complained that the business would bring more crime, trash and loitering to the city.

“The residents said that my business would create all the problems the city already has,” Karapetian said. “They were blaming me for La Habra’s crime, and that was not fair to me. I wasted six months and all my money for nothing. . . . I would have done anything to please them and (prove) that the business would have been a good” neighbor.

Residents overwhelmingly disagreed.

Lupe Palacios, armed with a petition signed by about 150 residents against the project, said the business would have attracted drunks and created loitering and dangerous traffic conditions in the neighborhood. The business would have operated on the northwest corner of Walnut Street and La Habra Boulevard.

“We have a lot of children, a lot of babies, in our neighborhood,” he said, pointing out that two elementary schools, a high school, the La Habra Children’s Museum, a Little League field and the city library are in or near the area.

“All we need is one drunk driver to hit a school bus full of kids and we’re going to have a big problem,” he said. “We don’t need that kind of environment, and all my neighbors are pleased with the council’s action.”

Council members said they rejected the appeal because of the parking arrangement that Karapetian had proposed. It would have provided eight parking spaces for customers in front of the facility and additional parking across the street.

“I don’t feel that type of (business) fits in that location because of the parking situation,” Mayor William D. Mahoney said.

Karapetian said he will try to open the billiard and video arcade in another city.