Call it a throwback: Costa Mesa planners sign off on permit for once-shuttered indoor ax-throwing facility

When the folks behind AXT Throwing were setting up their business in 2018, they didn’t think about getting permission from Costa Mesa City Hall to open a recreational ax-throwing facility that also allowed people to bring in their own beer.

It was a case of throw first, ask questions later.

But the fun, and strong Yelp reviews, only lasted a few months before city code enforcement got involved — forcing the business at 2020 Placentia Ave. to shutter in January and rethink itself.

On Thursday, after several months of City Hall wrangling, a split Planning Commission decided to approve a permit that will allow AXT to reopen under new conditions. The vote was 3-2, with Chairman Byron de Arakal and Commissioner Jon Zich opposed and Commissioner Jenna Tourje absent.

The decision is final unless appealed to the City Council within seven days.

AXT was approved to have limited operating hours — 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday and Monday — and agreed to install soundproofing measures designed to contain the loud thwacks of axes slamming into wood or clanging against the floor.

AXT also agreed not to allow any more alcohol consumption on-site or offer any food and beverage service.

Ax throwing is similar to darts. Participants lob projectiles at a target and try to score points by hitting the bull’s eye or another specified spot.

When asked why his team, inspired by a trip to Canada and the exploits of lumberjacks, never thought of getting City Hall permission last year, AXT co-founder Jesse Fowler told the commission, “I never thought of it.”

Fowler, a design and architecture professional who co-owns a restaurant in Redlands, said AXT was instead focused on building its brand. He described the Placentia Avenue site, which opened with eight lanes for throwers, as a “prototype” for a company intent on expanding.

De Arakal, however, questioned the operational timeline for the facility. Fowler said AXT was being planned from June 2018 to November 2018 and had no customers then, but De Arakal pointed to a Yelp review from that October.

“If you weren’t open for business, who are these people?” he asked.

The Daily Pilot also visited the site that September, the same month it announced a launch party.

Fowler countered that he wasn’t exactly sure when AXT first got started — it may have been October of last year, he said — but before then, “We had no business. There was nothing functional.”

According to city staff, a noise complaint was lodged against AXT in November 2018. That spurred a code enforcement investigation, which determined that the facility had been operating recreationally without a business license.

AXT ceased operations in January and applied for its permit in June. Its website said of the closure, “Our Costa Mesa location is temporarily closed on account of having a little too much fun. Don’t worry though, we’re working with the city to dampen the noise in the space.”

AXT abuts the Brickyard East tract of standalone three-story homes, some of which are as close as 25 feet to the facility. Several Brickyard residents protested the business, complaining of noise and insufficient parking.

City officials assigned AXT the same parking standards as a bowling alley, calculating that it needed 30 spaces. That figure factored in an adjacent car repair shop not using its spaces while AXT is open and a valet parking system that will squeeze more cars onto the property.

Brickyard resident Louis Jaquin slapped his hand against the speaker’s podium Thursday to make his point about the noise.

“You’re going to have to set this up like a gun range,” he said of the soundproofing plan.

Stephanie Rimer, another Brickyard resident, said she called police about the noise there.

“It’s like leaving a bar. It’s very loud,” she said, adding, “The last thing we want is to be woken up by people who are very excited about throwing axes.”

In approving the permit, Commissioner Kedarious Colbert credited AXT’s “strong attempts to mitigate and solve” its challenges.

Commission Vice Chairman Jeffrey Harlan downplayed the concerns about noise from Brickyard residents, noting that their homes are “smack in the middle of an industrial area” and that Brickyard’s housing documents noted the potential inconveniences of living in that corner of the Westside neighborhood.

Regarding parking, Harlan said, “It’s a dynamic system. That’s just how we operate. I don’t think you can try and regulate it as much as we do.”

De Arakal, however, called the valet parking plan “a game of ‘Tetris’ here, and it’s not working.”

He also criticized Fowler’s apparent lack of permitting knowledge, especially when considering he runs a restaurant that would require various permits.

“I just feel like they’re not organized,” De Arakal said. “And given the nature of the business, I mean, this isn’t darts. This isn’t Nerf balls. This is axes that people are throwing.”

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