Administrative
Report
N.2., File # 23-6373 Meeting Date: 9/5/2023
To: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
From: BRANDY FORBES, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
TITLE
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON THE PREPARATION OF A COASTAL DEVELOPMENT
PERMIT APPLICATION FOR PERMANENT OUTDOOR DINING DECKS IN RIVIERA VILLAGE AND
POLICY DIRECTION ON EXISTING COVID-RELATED TEMPORARY USE PERMITS UTILIZED BY
BUSINESSES FOR OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES ON PRIVATE PROPERTY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
During the COVID-19 emergency, the California Coastal Commission granted the City’s request to use certain on street parking spaces for restaurant and retail activity in the Riviera Village. The purpose of this effort was to address the constraints Redondo Beach restaurants and retailers were facing from reduced indoor capacity and COVID-related social distancing protocols by creatively providing outdoor space through a temporarily permitted outdoor dining program. To further assist businesses during this difficult time, the City also allowed these dining areas to be safeguarded by the installation of temporary building materials and waived license fees typically charged for the private use of public space.
The emergency order has ended and the California Coastal Commission waivers have been authorized to continue through December 31, 2023. Last year the City re-instated the fees charged for the private use of public space and worked with Riviera Village businesses to refine the number of parking spaces utilized by the dining decks.
The purpose of this report is to discuss the continuation of this program and advance the effort to make the dining decks in the existing locations a more permanent feature in the Riviera Village.
Central to this opportunity is the California Coastal Commission’s willingness to allow for the longterm repurposing of parking spaces in the Coastal Zone. In conversations with California Coastal Commission staff, it seems the Commission is open to entertaining requests from municipalities to allow for more permanent outdoor dining options in the coastal zone. This is especially true where cities are able to demonstrate alternative ways to provide public access to the coastline as an offset to the reduced number of parking spaces.
In order to formally consider this type of request, the City must apply for a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) or possibly a Local Coastal Plan (LCP) Amendment (depending on the program request) and provide specific program details, the number of public parking area(s) impacted by the program, and the mitigations that have been identified to offset the loss of public parking. City staff have developed a two-step concept to be proposed to the Coastal Commission to continue the dining decks and are seeking authorization from the City Council to submit a Coastal Development Permit
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decks and are seeking authorization from the City Council to submit a Coastal Development Permit to initiate the formal Commission review process.
In addition to the dining deck consideration, this item provides an opportunity for the Council to discuss the Temporary Use Permits (TUPs) that were issued for outdoor dining and outdoor business operations on private property during the COVID-19 emergency. These TUPs are still active (although many may no longer be in regular use). City staff is seeking policy direction from the City Council on how to address these COVID-19 related TUPs and whether they should be phased out or evaluated for possible ongoing permit approval.
BACKGROUND
During the COVID-19 emergency, the California Coastal Commission granted a waiver for the City to temporarily use certain on street parking spaces for restaurant and retail activity in the Riviera Village, pursuant to Public Resources Code, Section 30611. This allowed Redondo Beach restaurants and retailers to address reduced indoor capacity and COVID-related social distancing protocols.
Assembly Bill 61, approved by the Governor in October 2021, extended existing waivers through December 31, 2023 under the same conditions in the previously approved waiver. The construction of the dining decks in Redondo Beach under the emergency orders were temporary in nature and do not accommodate long term infrastructure needs. Based on the City’s discussions with Coastal Commission staff, the City needs to request new permanent outdoor dining for review pursuant to the CDP process.
Additionally, during the COVID-19 emergency orders, the City Council authorized TUPs for businesses to use outdoor areas on private property to conduct business. Now that there is no longer an emergency order, City staff are seeking policy direction from City Council on the future use of outdoor space on private property to conduct business.
Dining Decks in Riviera Village
The parking spaces utilized for the dining decks in Riviera Village are within the Coastal Zone, and therefore the temporary reduction required a waiver approval by the California Coastal Commission.
The waiver was granted by the Coastal Commission initially on June 30, 2020, along with multiple subsequent amendments. The waiver was done in conjunction with a special event permit issued to the Riviera Village Association Business Improvement District (BID). Once the BID received the special event permit to use the spaces, they coordinated directly with the businesses on installing the temporary dining decks. The Coastal Commission waiver and the corresponding local special event permit issued to the BID are currently valid through December 31, 2023.
Temporary Program Policy/Structure Concerns
The construction of the dining decks under the emergency orders were temporary in nature and do not accommodate all infrastructure needs or address fiscal and operational impacts to the City.
Although the current configurations were important to address public health issues related to the pandemic, they would not be sustainable to continue on as a permanent program. Some of the issues faced with the current temporary structures and use of parking are as follows:
· Many of the construction materials were not permanent in nature and are already degrading.
A more permanent outdoor dining program should include the installation of attractive and high
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A more permanent outdoor dining program should include the installation of attractive and high -quality barrier structures, street furniture, fixtures and equipment · Per the hydrology report dated October 15, 2020 prepared by DSC Engineering (attached), the temporary structures in place limit the stormwater flow for potential rain events and may exacerbate any storm event flows that could occur during the winter season · Several of the restaurants are using not only the space in front of their business, but the space in front of adjacent businesses for this use, potentially limiting access to other businesses.
Individual licenses should be administered for each of the businesses that participate in the more permanent program
· Private ongoing use of public property typically requires an annual license fee. The City waived these fees during the pandemic, but last year reinstated the fees since the use is no longer for emergency order purposes. A more permanent outdoor dining program should continue to include these fees
Proposed Two-Step Program
City staff are proposing a two-step dining deck permanency process. In the longer term, the City is pursuing a reconfiguration of Catalina Avenue in the Riviera Village area, the vicinity where the dining decks are currently located. That process is expected to take approximately 5 years before it would be implemented, and would eliminate the need to utilize parking spaces for dining decks. In the interim, however, the City is to submit a Coastal Development Permit before the termination of the waiver in order to continue the dining deck program in the parking areas in Riviera Village. The Coastal Development Permit application will describe the procedures for those decks (aligned with the City’s current sidewalk dining program procedures) as well as measures to alleviate the impacts that this reduction in parking would have on waterfront access.
Step 1: Interim Use of Parking Spaces for Dining Decks
The dining decks are to be processed by the City as encroachment permits. The policies and procedures for these encroachment permits will be noted in the Coastal Development Permit application to the California Coastal Commission. The City’s emergency waiver had been authorized for up to 239 on street parking spaces to be used for the dining deck program in Riviera Village during the COVID-19 emergency orders. The City has been careful to protect as many public parking spaces as possible and during the height of the pandemic only utilized a maximum of 76 of the 239 on street parking spaces granted under the waiver.
After evaluating the success of the temporary program and in an effort to explore the possibility of making the program more permanent, City staff inspected the dining deck arrangement to determine if there were any temporary dining decks that were underutilized or could be reconfigured to restore some of the lost parking. As well, several restaurants were no longer interested in the program once more normal operations were reinstated.
For this interim step for the dining decks, only 47 parking spaces in Riviera Village would be needed for this permanent program. The Coastal Development Permit will describe the need and layout for where dining decks will be allowed. As well, the procedures on qualifying a restaurant, including construction standards and area, will be included in the application. Finally, the City will provide measures it will implement to minimize any effects the dining deck program would have on coastal access. Those measures include the following:
· Provide more bicycle parking, in addition to what was already installed since the temporary
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· Provide more bicycle parking, in addition to what was already installed since the temporary dining decks were allowed during the pandemic
· Promote a program for patrons to park in the pier parking structures (approximately 1.5 miles north of Riviera Village that has ample parking available) and utilize transit at the pier that connects directly to the Riviera Village--the transit line currently exists, this would be promoting the program on social media, requesting that the BID distribute the information, and implementing other advertising efforts
· Evaluate locations for and advertise designated ride share pick up/drop off locations The timeframe of this interim step is expected to be approximately 5 years, until such time that the permanent roadway reconfiguration described in step 2 can be implemented.
Step 2: Permanent Roadway Reconfiguration with No Use of Parking for Dining Decks The City received staff support for Metro Board approval in September 2023 for $4,000,000 of Measure M regional grant funding from Metro (Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority - LACMTA) source to prepare Project Approval and Environmental Documents (PA&ED) and Plans, Specifications & Estimate (PS&E) designs for creating a more complete-street concept for Catalina Avenue. This reconfiguration will include the following components:
· Improve pedestrian access and mobility by widening sidewalks · Enhance bicycle mobility by installing protected class IV bike lanes adjacent to the curb · Increase and upgrade bicycle parking within the proposed wider sidewalks · Improve vehicular circulation by converting angled parking to parallel street parking · Bolster stormwater drainage to alleviate surface flooding during rain events · Promote and develop better public transportation access to Riviera Village with increased Transit line stops in Riviera Village in coordination with Redondo Beach Pier/Harbor and other local attractions
· Consider constructing a low-level parking structure in Riviera Village triangle parking lot to offset and possibly increase available parking in the Village While completing the design, the City will seek eligible construction funding to complete these improvements. If this reconfiguration is approved and constructed, it will shift any outdoor dining facilities to behind the curb, meaning that the dining will no longer be in the parking areas. The results will be safer dining areas and more access to the waterfront with a total net reduction from current 115 parking spaces to 80 parking spaces on Catalina as a result of the redesign incorporating parallel parking instead of angle parking. This is a net reduction of 35 parking spaces on Catalina Avenue as a result of the reconfiguration, plus there will be another 8 spaces that will continue to be utilized for dining decks on Avenue I and S. Elena Avenue. Therefore, Step 2 total net reduction in spaces from what was available pre-COVID would be 43 spaces. Whereas, in the interim Step 1 measure being proposed by the Coastal Development Permit, a total of 47 of the parking spaces would continue to be used to accommodate the current dining deck program. Therefore, Step 2 would return 4 additional parking spaces for use after the roadway configuration on Catalina Avenue.
Additionally, the subsequent potential of a parking structure would off-set the net reduction and increase parking availability in excess of pre-COVID parking availability in Riviera Village.
Recommendation for City Council Direction on Dining Decks The recommendation is for City Council to authorize staff to prepare and submit the CDP for the Step 1 interim program and notify the California Coastal Commission of the intent of the two-step program.
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Concurrently, Public Works will complete the environmental and design work for the roadway reconfiguration and seek eligible construction funding for these improvements and a possible parking structure at the triangle lot. Any further application or LCP amendment for Step 2 can then be submitted to the Coastal Commission.
COVID-19 Related Temporary Use Permit Policy Direction
The final component to this discussion item is regarding the TUPs issued related to the COVID-19 emergency. These TUPs were issued for outdoor dining and outdoor business operations on private property during the COVID-19 emergency and are still active (although many may no longer be in use). City staff are seeking policy direction from City Council on how to address these COVID-19 related TUPs.
COORDINATION
This item has been prepared with input from the Community Development, Public Works, and Waterfront and Economic Development Departments in coordination with the City Manager’s Office.
FISCAL IMPACT
The reduction in the number of parking spaces in Riviera Village reduces parking fee revenue.
However the loss in parking revenue is more than offset by the dining deck fees that are collected for the use of public right-of-way, which amount to roughly $250,000 per year.
APPROVED BY:
Mike Witzansky, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
· Email - Confirming Dining Deck Coastal Commission Waiver Extension to December 31, 2023 · Riviera Village BID Special Event Parklet Installation Extension to December 31 2023 · Report - DSG Engineering Hydrology Report, October 15, 2020 · Redondo Beach Sidewalk Dining Program Documents
· List of TUPs (Dining/Non-Restaurant) Issued during COVID-19 Emergency