Seal Beach has often struggled with the question of not having enough parking. From in-lieu fees ane hometown wars over parking meters, to parking tickets fluttering under windshield wipers along Old Town streets, parking in Seal Beach has always been at a premium. In fact, it seems a bit like what Mark Twain said about water and whiskey during the Gold Rush – “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over.”
In Seal Beach, at least some say, parking is worth fighting for.
When the Shorehouse Cafe on Pacific Coast Highway closed in 2010, no one knew what would take its place. Seal Beach Senior Planner Jerry Olivera confirmed on Monday, June 18, that parking spaces will replace the restaurant that once operated in the Regency Center. The downtown shopping center is best known as home to Pavilions.
Bulldozers only recently tore down the structure that housed one of Seal Beach’s few 24-hour business operations.
Olivera said the demolition of Shorehouse Cafe freed up 43 parking spaces. He said 23 parking spaces would be put in its place.
Parking spaces are an old issue with the shopping center. Because of what city staff has described as an honest error, the center did not have enough parking spaces to conform to the city code when the shopping center was remodeled.
The error made it necessary for the property owners to request a conditional use permit that allowed them to operate with fewer parking spaces than the Municipal Code required.
The CUP was reviewed and approved in 2011.
The new parking spaces may make up the difference between what is required and what the center actually has.
“They’re going to be close,” Olivera said.
“Fundamentally, they’re fine,” Olivera said.
He also said he had never seen demand for parking in the center exceed the number of spaces available, except for when Pavilions reopened following the supermarket’s remodel.
The shopping center’s rental spaces have never been 100 percent full since the center itself was remodeled. The recent closure of the Daily Grind coffee shop, located in the center of the parking lot, has helped reduce demand for parking space.
