Los Rios Bed and Breakfast Inn OKd

Lorene Sheldon plans to have the Los Rios Street Inn ready to greet guests by the time the swallows return to Mission San Juan Capistrano in March.

The Cultural Heritage Commission last month denied her request to open a bed and breakfast business in the historic Los Rios District, citing concerns about potential parking and traffic problems.

But the Planning Commission overturned that rejection and approved the project Wednesday in a 4-2 vote. Commissioners Ed Johnson and Sheldon Cohen voted no; Roy Nunn was absent.

This is the first bed and breakfast approved in the city since adoption last year of an ordinance allowing the businesses in historic homes.

Sheldon plans to sign a five-year lease with David Chorak to convert his 1,608-square-foot home, built in the early 1920s, into a small inn within walking distance of shops, restaurants, the train station and the mission.

“I am going to have bicycles so the guests can take the bike paths,” Sheldon said.

The inn is required, among other things, to provide five off-street parking spaces, limit its guests to three of the home’s four bedrooms and undergo a review by the commission in one year.

Additionally, commissioners voted 6 to 0 to recommend that the City Council place a one-year moratorium on new requests for businesses in the district until the city approves an updated development plan known as the Los Rios Precise Plan.

Chorak said his battles with City Hall over the what he calls the over-commercialization of the historic district led to his decision to lease his property to Sheldon. Chorak said he’d rather leave the neighborhood than continue to fight city officials over how many businesses should be allowed.