Residents on Monday, April 14, urged City Council members to reach an agreement with the owners of the Original Fish Company to build a new restaurant space at the end of the Seal Beach Pier.
At one point, the audience broke into cheers and applause in support of the project.
The council discussed real estate negotiations with Off the Hook, which is owned by the owners of the Original Fish Company, during a closed session meeting Monday night.
Seal Beach residents spoke in favor of the project during the public comment segment of both the closed session and the open council session. The competing developers, MDK Restaurant Developers, were not listed on the closed session agenda.
There was no mention of any pier development project on the open session council agenda.
The council took no reportable action on the Off the Hook negotiations.
As previously reported, Off the Hook proposes to replace the existing restaurant space on the pier with a two-story building that will have one restaurant on each floor. Dining would also take place on the sun deck of the second floor.
The upstairs restaurant would be OFC Off the Hook, and the downstairs would be OFC Quick.
Prior to the closed session of the council meeting, Ken Kropf, a 40-year resident of Seal Beach, told the council that he did not believe Wendy Rothman was proposing the project for the money.
Carla Watson said the Original Fish Company had an established, local clientele.
Later, during the open session of the council meeting, Watson asked the public to raise their hands or stand up if they supported having the Original Fish Company on the pier.
Watson asked the council what criteria they would use for choosing a restaurant developer.
Watson described the choices—an out-of-town business versus an established local business.
Most of the seats in the Council Chamber were full at the time. Most members of the audience stood, applauded and cheered.
Seth Eaker, representing the Chamber of Commerce, spoke in favor of the project at both the closed and open sessions. At the closed session, Eaker said he also spoke as an individual with 10 years of experience in running restaurants.
Eaker said the Chamber supports the Original Fish Company.
Vanessa Rothman Travis, daughter of Wendy Rothman and co-owner of the Original Fish Company, spoke in favor of the project at open session.
“It’s one thing to build it and another to operate it,” she said, apparently referring to past competing offers to develop the pier space.
She said she could assure the city that Off the Hook was well qualified.
She said the pier was a unique location with unique challenges.
“This is a labor of love,” she said.
The audience cheered and applauded.
Scott Newton, of the Seal Beach Lions, said he supported Off the Hook.
Bill Ayres said the people he has spoken to would like to see Off the Hook approved.
Pier vault repaired
In related news, the council accepted the completion of emergency repairs to the Pier Plaza Storage Vault. The repair project cost $75,000, including $20,000 in unexpected repairs, according to a staff report by Sean Crumby, assistant city manager and director of Public Works, in his staff report to the council.
“The City of Seal Beach owns, within its Public Right-of-Way, a storage facility,” Crumby wrote.
“The storage room fronts to the 10th Street Parking lot and is paved on the roof which allows for public viewing and vehicular and bike parking,” Crumby wrote.
“During a site visit during the summer of 2012, staff became aware of possible structural deficiencies in regards to this storage room,” Crumby wrote.
In January 2014, the council approved a contract with Golden State Constructors, Inc. for the Pier Plaza Storage Vault. During construction, the contractors discovered the walls were in worse condition than anyone had realized.
According to Crumby’s report, options included eliminating both the storage space and the viewing area or adding two interior walls. The extra walls were added.
“The proposed repairs needed to be implemented so that the retaining walls, the viewing area, and park being held in place by them, would not be threatened,” Crumby wrote.
He also wrote that the city engineer was satisfied with the project.
