75A - MARISCOS HECTOR PERMIT NO. 2019-10

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Conditional Use Permit No. 2019-10 and No. 2019-11 1801 South Main Street, Units D and E January 21, 2020 Page 2 alcoholic beverages within the added floor area. The restaurant is currently selling alcohol under Land Use Certificate No. 1988-15, with the proposed license upgrade requiring the filing of an application for a conditional use permit. In addition, the applicant is requesting approval of Conditional Use Permit No. 2019-11, a request to allow the restaurant to operate until 1 a.m. on weekends and holidays. After completing the hearing process, the Planning Commission approved the changes to the CUP for the ABC license (CUP No. 2019-10) and voted to continue the after-hours request (CUP No. 2019-11) until early next year (Exhibit 1 & 2). Due to concerns raised by a councilmember, at the November 5, 2019 City Council meeting, the City Council voted to remove the item from the Consent Calendar and schedule the item for a public hearing. The public hearing, originally scheduled for December 3, 2019 but continued to December 17, was delayed at the request of the applicant. PLANNING COMMISSION BACKGROUND AND ACTION In April 2019, the Planning Commission held the first public hearing on this item. During the hearing, several speakers raised concerns with the existing operation of the restaurant. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Commission elected to continue the item and asked staff to follow- up with the community in an effort to obtain solutions to the issues raised during the public hearing. On June 24, 2019, a Community Meeting was held with the Madison Park Board, City staff and representatives from Mariscos Hector. During this meeting, several issues were raised, including concerns that tequila shots were being served in violation of Mariscos Hector's current ABC license, concerns with the operation of the existing restaurant at McFadden and Standard Avenues, loud noise coming from the restaurant, economic incentives for upgrading the ABC license, and a perceived overconcentration of ABC licenses in the area. The applicant responded that hard liquor (tequila) was not being served but an agave wine product, that the applicant for this project (Ms. Sebold) is in the process of obtaining control over the majority of the Mariscos Hector restaurants in an effort to resolve issues at each restaurant, and that the ABC upgrade would ensure the restaurant remains competitive with similar restaurants in the area. At the conclusion of the meeting, the participants agreed to meet again to continue their dialogue. On July 29, 2019, a follow-up meeting was held that also included interested groups including Santa Ana Healthy Neighborhood Alliance, Wilshire Square and Memorial Park Neighborhood representatives. Further discussion ensued on identifying additional ways to outreach to the community, the creation of a Google Docs tool for residents to report incidents/impacts from the restaurant in -lieu of contacting the Police Department, and the need to transition the restaurant to one that caters to families. The applicant responded that changes such as revised hours of operation and incorporating breakfast items into the menu are being considered by the applicant. Following the July 29 community meeting, the Google Docs tool was implemented to be used by interested community members to document restaurant related issues. Google Docs also allowed the applicant and City staff to provide updates to the issues that were noted in the document. In reviewing the document, members of the community raised several concerns directly to staff between July 30 to August 20. Of these concerns, only three were related to Mariscos Hector, with the other four concerning an adjacent restaurant and possible brothel. The Mariscos Hector 75A-2