Battle Looms Over Venice Boardwalk : Commerce: Officials order a series of community workshops to settle the fight over how to reshape the landmark. New restrictions on charity vendors will be implemented next month.

Expect a stormy summer at Venice Beach.

The onset of the beach season finds a community bitterly divided over how to spend $10 million approved for a Venice Boardwalk renovation, and over new restrictions on nonprofit groups who peddle causes--and often merchandise--at tables on public park land.

Even in contentious Venice, it’s been years since residents have brawled as long and loud as in recent meetings on the future of the boardwalk.

During a rancorous six-hour meeting last Wednesday, the city Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners ordered a series of community workshops to settle the fight over how the beach should be renovated. The board also decided to try out new restrictions on nonprofit groups, starting next month.

The regulations require charities and other groups to have proof of nonprofit status and limit them to a six-foot space along the western edge of the boardwalk, city land where an existing ban on sales is often flouted.

Commissioners quickly approved the restrictions after hearing a fierce debate that pitted private merchants bedeviled by illegal vending against performers and activists who said the rules violate constitutional freedoms.

“To make them criminals--you are in essence killing Venice,” said Harry Perry, the roller-skating boardwalk regular who plays guitar and sells cassettes of his music.

The rules, proposed by a business group called the Venice Boardwalk Assn., do not affect artists and performers. A city task force is still studying a separate proposal to require artists to get city permits before selling their works.

Supporters said new restrictions were needed to reduce crowding and curb commercial sales of T-shirts and sunglasses by groups claiming to be charities. They are also seeking a change in the city’s no-vending law that would close a loophole so groups cannot sell items that do not directly promote their beliefs.

Restrictions will be in place from May 30 to Oct. 1.

The board approved spending $7 million for the boardwalk make-over and about $3 million to fix the closed Venice Pier, leaving for later the volatile question of what shape the boardwalk renovation will take.

Commissioners will rely on the community workshops to find middle ground between allies of the boardwalk association--whose refurbishment scheme includes a controversial proposal to pave the boardwalk in brick--and opponents who fear an attempt to gentrify the funky beach site. The workshops will begin in June or July.

Despite vehement opposition, the board voted to hire as workshop consultants the same Venice architects who volunteered to draw up the association’s renovation plan last year. Many residents complained that the firm’s ties to that plan created a conflict of interest, making it unfair to those favoring an alternative plan for the boardwalk. They urged commissioners to hire a firm without ties to either of the two plans proposed so far.

The alternative boardwalk plan, proposed by a group led by activist Jerry Rubin, would exclude brick and save the Venice Pavilion, which would be demolished under the association’s proposal.

Studio of Design will be paid $98,600 to prepare cost estimates and incorporate residents’ opinions into possible designs. Officials from the city’s Recreation and Parks Department will actually lead the sessions and recommend a final design to the board.

The parks panel also agreed to solicit proposals from nonprofit groups interested in renovating the pavilion for community use. The Venice Arts Mecca has proposed an arts center for the former theater, which has stood idle for years.

Commissioners allotted $100,000 from the $10-million park fund to help pay for the restoration of Ballona Lagoon, though supporters had sought $300,000.