Former owner tries to comply

GLENDALE — The former owner of Sidewalk Cafe, the northwest Glendale restaurant that city officials found to be operating without a required business permit since it opened three years ago, said Monday he is actively working with city officials to bring his former business up to speed.

Zereh M. Issakhanian, who first developed the restaurant at 901 W. Glenoaks Blvd. in 2005, met with city officials Thursday from the neighborhood services and attorney’s office in an attempt to resolve the conflict.

The ordeal came to a head after residents grumbled that the cafe had no zoning-use certificate, tore out landscaping and used it for dining and used the garage of an adjacent home for business purposes — all violations of city codes.

Current owner Rafik Khatchaturian, Deputy City Atty. Dorine Martirosian and Assistant Planning Director Tim Foy also joined the meeting.

“I’ve done some small wrongdoings, I admit that,” Issakhanian said. “Anything I’ve done wrong, I will correct it.”

Issakhanian submitted a zoning-use certificate before the meeting and said Monday that he had removed the outdoor fence near the patio eating area and the next-door garage that had been used to store business supplies. City officials are mulling whether he must replace the landscaping that was ripped out to add a table and four chairs, he said.

Residents who live close to the cafe said they were relieved it is close to compliance.

“I am happy of course that it’s finally moving in the right direction,” said resident Jolene Taylor, one of the first neighbors to bring the issue to the attention of city officials. “It seemed to languish in the city attorney’s office, and nothing may have been done if it wasn’t for persistent neighbors.”

Martirosian opened the investigation into the cafe in January after officials with Neighborhood Services found, after its own inquiry was started in June 2007, that the restaurant was operating illegally.

But Issakhanian said the attacks against his former restaurant are misguided; that he did not know he was violating the rules; and that not filing a zoning-use certificate was a simple oversight, not a malicious attempt to flout regulations.

“Honestly, we dropped the ball,” he said of not filing a zoning-use certificate. “It was an honest mistake. Look, that place was a dump. It was a run-down building. I invested so much money, and turned it into something nice, something beautiful.”

The motivation for uprooting the shrubbery that had been planted on the sidewalk in front of the cafe was grounded in aesthetics, Issakhanian said.

“I just wanted to clean up the place,” he said. “I understand green and open space is wonderful for the city, but that dirt will cause cockroaches to come if you don’t keep it up.”

Issakhanian developed the cafe in 2005 after taking over Michelle & Eddie’s dry cleaning shop at the corner of Glenoaks Boulevard and Highland Avenue.

With the help of design firm Malekian and Associates, Issakhanian won Glendale’s Urban Design Achievement Award for excellence in urban design.

On Feb. 22, Issakhanian sold the land to Dell West Properties, LLC for an undisclosed amount and subsequently invested a portion of that in different ventures across the country, including Michigan, he said.

Day-to-day management has fallen to Hendrik Torrisian, said Dell West Partner Dan Khatchaturian, who along with his business partner and father Rafik Khatchaturian, said they will help correct some of the irregularities city officials found.

One of those involves the addition of “and Kabob” to Sidewalk Cafe’s sign that advertises the eatery, Neighborhood Services Administrator Sam Engel said.

“He said he is going to take out ‘and Kabob,’” Engel said. “Rafik [Khatchaturian] seems to be a reputable operator.”

The zoning-use certificate that Issakhanian applied for three weeks ago is being considered by officials in the city’s planning Department, Engel said.

But complicating the approval process is the change in zoning requirements that govern retail versus restaurant use, he said.

“More parking, that’s the issue that’s holding them back,” Engel said.

Cafe officials have 30 days to correct the violations while city officials mull whether they will issue a zoning-use certificate, he said.

If a certificate is not issued, then Khatchaturian will have to apply for a variance from the parking standards.

“If that’s not approved, we’ll take steps to shut him down,” Engel said.

“But that’s a worst-case scenario.”

 JEREMY OBERSTEIN covers business, politics and the foothills. He may be reached at (818) 637-3215 or by e-mail at jeremy.oberstein@latimes.com.