COSTA MESA : Coffee-Cart Business Grinds to a Halt

The Planning Commission has ordered the owner of the city’s only drive-through espresso cart to halt his 7-month-old business.

The commission met Monday to consider granting a permit to Patrick O’Brien, who said he sells espresso and cappuccino to about 80 people each day from a cart in front of an abandoned Der Wienerschnitzel drive-through hot dog stand on 17th Street.

O’Brien said he opened the stand after a former business partner assured him that permits already had been obtained. “I never intended on moving in there and operating illegally in the black-market area,” he told the commission.

People can pull up to the stand and buy coffee without leaving their cars. O’Brien, an espresso bar caterer and coffee merchant in Los Angeles, said he knows of no other drive-through coffee carts in Los Angeles or Orange counties.

Commissioner John Palme led the opposition to the cart, saying: “This is the wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.”

The espresso cart is caught in the middle of a battle between the city and Eugene Scarcello, who owns the land where the cart is parked.

The city may sell the access road that people use to drive up to the coffee cart. A doctor, Brennan Cassidy, has applied to develop a site next door, possibly eliminating the drive-through, according to associate planner Gabriel Elliott.

Scarcello is suing the city to block development of the access road. “If this project is approved, it blocks my access, and limits the use of my property,” he said.

Scarcello said O’Brien is “getting a beating because of the situation between the city and me and Dr. Cassidy.”

Commission Chairman Walter M. Davenport agreed after the meeting that the access road is a crucial issue, and also said that the city is cautious when considering permits for outdoor commercial developments.

According to a staff report, permits have been issued for sidewalk sales, outdoor flower displays and parking-lot sales.

O’Brien said he will appeal the commission’s decision to the City Council. He will also apply for a push-cart permit, which Elliott said would let him operate from a sidewalk.