HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-05; Update on Temporary Outdoor Activation Due to COVID- 19 (Districts - All); Murphy, JeffTo the membe rs of the:
CITY COUNCIL
Date l.cl.5itl CA✓ CC ✓
CM /ACM d DCM ( 3) 'IL°
October 5, 2023
Council Memorandum
To:
From:
Via:
Honorable Mayor Blackburn and Members of the City Council
Jeff Murphy, Community Development~tor
Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager ~
{city of
Carlsbad
Memo ID# 2023106
Re: Update on Temporary Outdoor Activation Due to COVID-19 (Districts -All)
This is an update on the Community Development Department's enforcement efforts to bring
temporary outdoor activations that were issued during the COVID-19 pandemic into
compliance with current city standards.
Background
In response t o the COVID-19 pandemic, the City Council approved the temporary suspension of
certain land development standards to allow businesses located within the Village & Barrio
Master Plan (VBMP) area to temporarily expand their operations into the public right-of-way,
thereby allowing more curb cafes, sidewalk displays, and sidewalk dining areas . The City Council
also suspended standards to allow for businesses to temporarily operate in their private parking
lots. These activities are commonly referred to as "outdoor activations."
A total of 116 businesses took advantage of these temporary opportunities. _Because these
temporary outdoor activation permits were tied to the State of Emergency, they expired on
February 28, 2023, when the state and San Diego County Emergency Proclamations expired,
and the State of Emergency ended. Additional information is available in the City Council
Memorandum dated February 9, 2023 (Attachment A).
Discussion
In February/March 2023, staff notified affected businesses located in the VBMP area of the
temporary permit expiration and advised them to contact the city to discuss their options to
allow the continued use of their outdoor activation. The letters also advised those businesses
with a curb cafe that the annual right-of-way use permit fees ($236.00 + $2,631.00 per parking
space) shall be reimposed.
Businesses were given 90 days after the termination of the State of Emergency orders
(May 31, 2023) to secure the necessary permit to either (1) authorize their outdoor use, (2)
modify the outdoor activation to make it consistent with applicable codes and standards, or (3)
remove the activation and restore the area to its pre COVID-19 pandemic condition.
At the conclusion of the 90-day period, staff received some inquiries from business owners
regarding the permitting process, but no permit applications were received. In response, staff
Community Services Branch
Community Development Department
1635 Faraday Ave I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339-2600 t
Council Memo -Temporary Outdoor Activation Due to COVID-19, Update (Districts -All)
October 5, 2023
Page 2
was preparing to initiate formal enforcement action against non-compliant businesses but
considering that the summer high revenue/traffic period was starting, Community
Development Department management opted to delay enforcement until September/October
2023.
Next Steps
Considering the city's last formal communication with the affected businesses was close to
seven months ago, the Community Development Department elected to send another Notice of
Violation (NOV) to non-compliant businesses requiring them to secure a permit or remove the
outdoor activation within a specified time. The NOVs went out this week. (
It should be noted that prior to sending the NOVs, staff reinspected the downtown area and
confirmed that the curb cafes and sidewalk dining areas that were authorized under a
temporary outdoor activation permit were still being used. However, the inspections also
revealed that several businesses installed outdoor activations without the benefit of a pe rmit or
had unpermitted encroachments within the public right-of-way (i.e., planter boxes, benches,
storage boxes).
The NOVs that were issued this week requires business owners to apply for a permit to either
retain, revise, or remove their outdoor activation/encroachments by a specified date as follows:
• Curb Cafe -application must be received by October 20
• Sidewalk Cafe -application must be received by October 16
• Outdoor Displays -application must be received by October 12
As of the writing of this memorandum, there are 31 businesses that have/will be receiving this
NOV.
Failure to comply with the compliance dates in the NOV will result in the issuance appealable
administrative citations ($100 for the first citation, $200 for the second, and $500 for the third
and subsequent citation). Citations will be issued every three days until an application is
received and reasonable effort is made to secure the permit. If the business owner fails to
timely apply or fails to make meaningful progress in securing the permit, the Community
Development Department will coordinate with the City Attorney's Office to initiate procedures
for the city to remove the improvements from the city's right-of-way.
Separately, outdoor activations that were allowed on private parking lots will expire January 1,
2024, per state law (refer to Attachment A for additional information). The Community
Development Department will be mailing reminder letters to affected business owners in
November 2023 outlining their options.
Attachment A: City Council Memorandum re: outdoor activation dated February 9, 2023
Council Memo -Temporary Outdoor Activation Due to COVID-19, Update (Districts -All)
October 5, 2023
Page 3
cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Cindie McMahon, City Attorney
Mike Calderwood, Fire Chief
Randy Metz, Fire Division Chief
David Graham, Chief Innovation Officer
Matt Sanford, Economic Development Manager
Ron Kemp, Senior Assistant City Attorney
Tom Frank, Transportation Director
Mike Strong, Assistant Director of Community Development
Eric Lardy, City Planner
Jason Geldert, LOE Engineering Manager
Robbie Hickerson, Code Enforcement Manager
Chris Glassen, LOE Engineering Technician
To the members of the: CITY COUNCIL
Date 2fll1.3. CA ✓ cc✓
CM _✓ACM LocM (3) _L"
February 9, 2023
Council Memorandum {city ofCarlsbad
Memo ID# 2023018
To:
From:
Via:
Re:
Honorable Mayor Blackburn and Members of the City Council
Jeff Murphy, Community Developmen
�
o· ector
Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager
Update on Temporary Outdoor Activ · n Due to COVID-19 (Districts -All)
On June 7, 2022 (Item #11)1, city staff provided City Council a report on the status of the
temporary outdoor activation permits issued due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an update
to that report.
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the economy. The public health orders
that mandated the closure of businesses or modifications to their operations hit businesses in
the food and beverage, retail, and personal services sectors particularly hard. In response, the
City Council approved the temporary suspension of certain land development standards to
allow businesses to temporarily expand their operations into private parking lots, and those in
the Village & Barrio Master Plan (VBMP) area to expand into the public right-of-way, allowing
curb cafes and sidewalk dining in what is known as outdoor activation.
A total of 116 businesses took advantage of this temporary opportunity. The temporary permits
issued will expire once the state and county proclamations of state and local emergency expire,
which Governor Newsom announced that the COVID-19 State of Emergency will end on
February 28, 2023. San Diego County recently announced that the local emergency and local
health emergency will also end February 28, 2023, matching the end of the state of California's
previously announced plan.
Discussion
Curb Cafes
A curb cafe is a deck structure that allows for outdoor seating
to extend from the sidewalk into the street parking stalls for
the purposes of food and/or beverage service. Curb cafes are
allowed within the VBMP area with a right-of-way use permit,
which is issued by the Community Development (CD)
Department. To assist struggling businesses and maximize
opportunities to allow continued operations during COVID-19
closure protocols, the City Council suspended certain
standards as reflected in the table below.
1 https://records.carlsbadca.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=6282652&dbid=0&repo=CityofCarlsbad
Community Services Branch
Community Development Department 1635 Faraday Ave I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339-2600 t
Attachment A
Council Memo -Update on Temporary Outdoor Activation Due to COVID-19 (Districts -All)
February 9, 2023
Page 2
DEVELOPMENT STANDARD ESTABLISHED PANDEMIC
STANDARDS STANDARDS
Maximum curb cafes per street block
Maximum length of curb cafe
Maximum parking stalls per cafe
Parking study shows 85% or more stalls
within a street block occupied
Four
Frontage of business
Two
Remove curb cafe
Unlimited
Unlimited
Four
Curb cafe can remain
A total of nine businesses were issued temporary curb cafe permits during the COVID-19
pandemic. Six of the businesses either constructed their curb cafe to meet established
standards or subsequently modified their curb cafe to comply with VBMP requirements. As a
result, those curb cafes have been permitted and are allowed to remain as currently
constructed.
The three remaining temporary curb cafes (Oak & Elixir, Pure Taco, and Campfire) will not be
allowed to remain in their current configuration and will require modifications to meet
standards if they are to continue to operate after February 28, 2023. These modifications may
include reduction in size, change in materials, enhancing drainage, enhancing structural
integrity and/or aesthetics.
Sidewalk Dining
Sidewalk dining is an outdoor extension of a food and/or beverage
service with exterior seating on public property, typically on city
sidewalks. Sidewalk dining is allowed within the VBMP area with a
right-of-way use permit. There was only one VBMP established
development standard affecting sidewalk dining that was
temporarily suspended by the City Council. Under the VBMP,
sidewalk dining is restricted to the frontage of the business it serves.
During the state of emergency, businesses have been allowed to expand their sidewalk dining
areas into·the frontage of adjacent businesses so long as the adjacent business owner agrees in
writing to the encroachment. A total of 16 businesses were initially issued permits during the
COVID-19 pandemic for temporary sidewalk dining, of which 10 have been removed. Of the
remaining six, all of them will require some minor modifications to be consistent with VBMP
standards.
Outdoor displays
An outdoor display is a temporary display of merchandise that
is limited in size, duration, and location and placed on public
property, most often on the city sidewalks. Outdoor displays
are allowed within the VBMP area with a right-of-way use
permit, issued by the Community Development Department.
Like curb cafes, there were a handful of established standards
Council Memo -Update on Temporary Outdoor Activation Due t o COVID-19 (Districts -All)
February 9, 2023
Page 3
that needed to be suspended (see table below) to allow not only mo.re displays, but to also
allow certain businesses to operate outdoors such as barbershops and nail salons.
ESTABLISHED PANDEMIC
DEVELOPMENT STANDARD STANDARDS STANDARDS
Maximum number of displays
Location of outdoor displays
Business operations allowed to operate
outdoors where displays allowed
One Unlimited
Frontage of business Unlimited
Prohibited Allowed
Only three businesses requested outdoor displays, and all three meet the established standards
set forth in the VBMP.
Temporary use of private parking lots
The Carlsbad Municipal Code (CMC) allows for special events that
are short term in du ration, held entirely on private property and
do not impact public roads or services. These functions typically
involve such activities as weekend sales or special business
events, which are often held in the business's parking lot. These
special events are allowed with a private property permit.
'
While the CMC allows for special events, many city planning zones
that allow commercial and retail businesses also require that all
operations be conducted wholly within a building. The intent of
this restriction is to prevent business activities from regularly
being conducted outdoors, where operations may impinge upon
neighboring properties with excessive noise, parking impacts and
other issues. Given the uncertainty on how long the COVID-19
pandemic would last, the City Council agreed to allow businesses
to operate outside under the special-events provisions of the
CMC for the duration ofthe COVID-19 pandemic, even in zones
that require that commercial and retail activity be conducted
within a structure. This allowed businesses such as gyms,
churches, restaurants, salons, and other similar retail uses to
operate in private parking lots and private common areas.
A total of 100 private property permits have been issued to businesses. Twenty-six were issued
to businesses located within the VBMP area while the remaining 74 were issued to businesses
elsewhere in the city. Roughly 60% of the private property permits issued both inside and
outside the VBMP area were for eating and dining establishments, while the remaining 40%
were for other retail enterprises such as gyms, churches, and personal services. A higher
percentage of the private property permits, 73%, issued inside the VBMP area were for eating
Council Memo -Update on Temporary Outdoor Activation Due to COVID-19 (Districts -All)
February 9, 2023
Page 4
and dining establishments. With the scaling back of the COVID-19 protocols, roughly 80% of the
businesses outside the VBMP area voluntarily removed the temporary improvements and
restored the areas back into parking lot use.
Assembly Bill 61, approved in 2021, requires local governments to reduce the number of
parking spaces that they would otherwise require if necessary to provide relief for outdoor
activation until January 1, 2024. In other words, any outdoor activation in a private property
parking lot is allowed to remain until the end of this calendar year.
Next Steps
Later this month, the Community Development Department will notify the nine businesses in
writing (three curb cafe and six sidewalk cafe) of the need to either modify or remove their
outdoor activation. Businesses will be given 90 days after the termination of the emergency
orders (May 31, 2023) to either modify their temporary outdoor activations to make them
permanent under the current CMC or remove the activation and restore the area to previous
conditions. Letters addressed to all curb cafe owners will also sent advising them that annual
right-of-way use permit fees shall be reimposed.
For outdoor activation on private parking lots, staff intends to issue letters to those businesses
later this year altering them to the January 2024 expiration date when the improvements will
need to be removed.
Staff will be made available to answer any questions to ensure a smooth transition.
cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Cindie McMahon, City Attorney
Mike Calderwood, Fire Chief
Randy Metz, Fire Division Chief
David Graham, Chief Innovation Officer
Matt Sanford, Economic Development Manager
Ron Kemp, Senior Assistant City Attorney
Tom Frank, Transportation Director
Mike Strong, Assistant Director of Community Development
Eric Lardy, City Planner
Jason Geldert, LDE Engineering Manager
Robbie Hickerson, Code Enforcement Manager
Chris Glassen, LDE Engineering Technician