Council Creates Task Force to Stem Exodus of Restaurants from Promenade

By Teresa Rochester

Nov. 14 -- Looking to curb the exodus of restaurants from the Third Street Promenade due to skyrocketing rents, the City Council Tuesday night unanimously voted to temporarily halt the conversion of restaurants into retail stores while a task force tackles the thorny issue.

In a 7 to 0 vote the council directed City staff to craft a 45-day emergency ordinance aimed at controlling the concentration of retail spaces on the popular shopping strip in an effort to stem the loss of restaurant spaces and encourage their increase.

In the past two years six restaurants with outdoor dining have closed on the Promenade. while only one has opened.

The council also directed staff to explore the possibility of regulating the number of large chain stores, like those on the Promenade and in most malls and shopping districts.

The council also created a task force charged with looking for ways to balance the mix of shops and eateries on the outdoor mall. Consisting of community members, City officials and City staff, the group will be charged with studying a series of recommendations proposed by the Bayside District Corporation, which manages the Promenade and Downtown. The task force will work during the 45-day period the ordinance is in place.

The recommendations the task force will consider are the result of two years of work by the Bayside District board. They range from opening food vending carts to decreasing the amount restaurants are charged each month for outdoor dining permits. The recommendations also include easing and even removing the Conditional Use Permit process for some restaurateurs.

As the clock inched closer to midnight, the time three council members said they would leave, the council balked at taking up the recommendations, which would have likely required lengthy discussion. Instead, they turned the responsibility over to the task force.

"I think our job is to put an emergency ordinance and form a task force to take the ideas presented through it," said Councilman Herb Katz.

Councilman Ken Genser argued that any emergency ordinance should provide a general scope and not specific recommendations. He also said that he opposed any plan that would get rid of conditional use permits -- which set parameters, such as how much alcohol restaurants can serve.

"I think it's absolute nonsense to throw out our regulatory process," Genser said. "I haven't seen one [CUP] turned down. I think the issue is one of economics not regulations."

The brief debate disappointed Kathleen Rawson, the Bayside District's executive director.

"The process clearly deserved more attention than people could muster at that time of night," she said.

Mayor Michael Feinstein, who pushed for a more comprehensive emergency ordinance, said the late hour was no excuse for his colleagues to forego a long-anticipated debate.

"It's been two months since this has been on our agenda most recently and more than two years since it came to us in 1999," Feinstein said after the meeting. "Council members have had more than ample opportunity to explore the multitude of policy options. To simply punt it back to a working group is an abdication to deal with a very pressing issue that affects our social and economic health."

Property owners and members of the Bayside District Board of Directors, however, called for the formation of the task force to continue studying the recommendations.

"There's much more needed work," said Bayside Chair Wally Marks. "Working with staff, working with community we can build guidelines for a healthy community."

"Now that we can get everyone to the table with their sleeves rolled up we can come up with a whole constellation of solutions," said property owner Merlyn Wenner Ruddell.

Rawson said the task force will need to be given explicit instructions and a detailed timeline so it can be successful.

Council members pushed to get the draft of the emergency ordinance back in time for their next meeting on Nov. 27, a quick tight turn-around that troubled City Attorney Marsha Moutrie.

"The law you're thinking of doing is once again on the cutting edge," said Moutrie. "When you do it fast you run some risks."

Not only is the issue complex, but City staff already has a considerable workload, staff warned. Effectively tackling the issue may take longer than the council expects.