Seal Beach planners granted a conditional use permit to allow the remodel of all three floors of the Pacific Inn at the Wednesday, July 7 Planning Commission meeting.
According to the staff report signed by Senior Planner Jerry Olivera, Lonnie Wick of Lee & Sakahara Architects is proposing an upgrade of the Pacific Inn’s façade and exterior areas as well as reconfiguration of some interior areas of the hotel and to expand the lobby.
“The hotel has an existing square footage of approximately 37,067 square feet, distributed between three floors,” Olivera wrote.
The proposed remodel would add, among other things, 446 square feet to administrative offices and 252 square feet of new storage area to the first floor. On the second floor, a storage room would become a self-service laundry.
On the third floor, the remodel would create a new multipurpose room.
“The added square footage between the three floors would total approximately 1,905 square feet,” Olivera wrote.
Part of the first floor renovation would add a patio. Olivera’s report said that patio appeared to encroach upon the sidewalk area along 7th Street and staff would require that the patio comply with setback requirements for the commercial zone.
As for the proposed third floor multipurpose room, that would provide a place for meetings, receptions and small-scale functions.
Despite the increased square footage, the remodel will not trigger increased parking requirements.
“Since the required parking for a hotel use is based on the total number of rooms rather than a square-footage ratio, there is no additional requirement for parking as a result of the additions and renovations to the hotel,” Olivera wrote.
The report went on to say that staff does not believe additional parking is required at this time.
One concern raised by the report is flooding. The Olivera report recommended that the architect be required to meet with Development Services and Public Works staff to “determine if there are cost-effective remedies that would help alleviate this problem.”
Parking reduced for 2900 Westminster Ave.
That same night, planners approved a request to reduce the minimum parking required at 2900-2940 Westminster Ave.
The Cheng Family, Limited Liability Company asked the Planning Commission to reduce required parking in the commercial center lot by 15 percent.
“Staff first became aware of the parking deficiency within this center around November 2008, when Denny’s Restaurants submitted an application for a Conditional Use Permit to establish a restaurant in the former Primrose Restaurant Building,” said the staff report signed by Senior Planner Olivera.
(There is no Denny’s Restaurant at the location at this time.)
The report said the center was built in 1974, when Seal Beach had different parking requirements.
Under the current rules, staff determined that the center needs 134 spaces.
The Cheng Family, LLC proposed reconfiguring the parking lot to provide 121 spaces. Five of those spaces would be handicapped-accessible stalls.
Staff asked the applicants to provide a parking study. This was carried out by the engineering firm Linscott, Law and Greenspan. According to the Olivera report, the LLG study incorrectly calculated the number of parking spaces required at the center—125 spaces, as opposed to the 134 the planning staff calculated.
However, the Olivera report said the peak weekday demand at the center would call for 107 parking spaces. The peak weekend demand: 99 parking spaces. The report pointed out that the peak demands for parking space were far below the 121 spaces the property owners were requesting for the center.
The staff recommended approving the permit request. The Planning Commission agreed.
In other news
• Planners granted a variance to Seth and Vicki Kogan of Surfside Colony.
The Kogans have an elevated staircase and entry walkway that is more than 2-and-a-half feet above the grade.
Planning staff recommended approval of the variance because the elevated entryway provided access to and from the building in the event of flooding.
The Kogans’ request for two awnings that projected into the back yard didn’t meet with the same success as the request to approve the existing staircase. Planners approved one awning that was reduced to 18 inches.
The other awning was eliminated from the project.
