NEWPORT BEACH : Panel OKs Hooters Plan for Expansion

The Hooters restaurant on the Balboa Peninsula has won Planning Commission approval to offer patio service, but not without concessions to some neighboring residents who complained about excessive noise.

Hooters, an eatery known for its scantily clad waitresses and raucous environment, opened on Feb. 23 under permits previously issued to the Red Onion restaurant that preceded it and did not need Planning Commission review.

Hooters manager Ken Poole went to the commission Thursday seeking a change in the use permit to extend the parking lot onto a nearby lot for which he has acquired a 12-year lease, so he can add a deck to the entryway for outside dining.

But some residents in the area are opposed to the plan, particularly those at the three-story 28th Street Marina, who must live with the noise that wafts from the open windows at Hooters and Woody’s Wharf next door.

“Give us a break. There are residences in those neighborhoods. The noise carries,” said Tom Hyans, president of the Central Balboa Improvement Assn.

He and Laith Ezzet, a spokesman for the residents’ association at the 28th Street Marina condominium complex, pointed out that noise problems to date have been limited to what drifts from windows, mainly because the weather so far this year has discouraged patrons from using Hooters’ existing second-floor deck.

“It’s only going to get worse,” Ezzet said.

The commission voted unanimously to let Hooters build the deck and annex the parking lot, but on the condition that 5% of the lot be devoted to landscaping and the deck be closed for service after 10 p.m.