This project was reviewed pursuant to the guidelines of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and determined to be exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA guidelines which covers activities with no possibility of having a significant effect on the environment.

That the Planning Commission approve:

A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LA HABRA RECOMMENDING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL ADOPT AN ORDINANCE APPROVING ZONE CHANGE 22-02 TO AMEND TITLE 18 ZONING OF THE LA HABRA MUNICIPAL CODE (LHMC), CHAPTER 18.12 SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS, SECTION 18.12.140 OUTDOOR SEATING AREA, MODIFYING THE OUTDOOR SEATING REQUIREMENTS FOR RESTAURANTS AS PER EXHIBIT "A."

In 2020, in an effort to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on local restaurants, the Community and Economic Development Department approved over 41 temporary outdoor dining permits citywide, which provided local restaurants with the opportunity to remain open during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. These temporary outdoor dining permits were administrative permits with general guidelines not involving any processing fees or design standards.

On May 2, 2022, the City Council, at its regular meeting, adopted Ordinance No. 1839, which included modifications to La Habra Municipal Code (LHMC) Section 18.12.140 Outdoor Seating Area to streamline the process for outdoor dining areas. These amendments were made in response to the increasing popularity of outdoor dining as a result of the pandemic and were intended to help local restaurants with temporary outdoor dining areas to replace these areas with permanent dining areas, and encourage new outdoor dining areas.

The adopted ordinance presently allows outdoor dining areas that are less than or equal to 25 percent of the restaurant's total floor area to be subject to the approval of an Administrative Adjustment; and outdoor dining areas that are larger than 25 percent of the restaurant's total floor area to be subject to the approval of a modification to a restaurant's Conditional Use Permit (CUP Modification). This amendment changed the threshold between an Administrative Adjustment and a CUP Modification from a fixed size of 250 square feet to a percentage of the total floor area. An Administrative Adjustment is subject to the approval of the Director of Community and Economic Development; a CUP Modification is subject to the approval of the Planning Commission at a noticed public hearing. The Fiscal Year 2022/23 (FY22/23) fee to process an Administrative Adjustment is $334; the fee to process a CUP Modification is $3,956 and the associated environmental review is $412, for a total cost of $4,368. In addition, if the request is for an area larger than 25 percent of the total floor area, a parking study is required to show that there is adequate parking to support in increase in dining area. No additional parking or analysis is required for outdoor dining areas that are less than 25 percent of the restaurant's total area, unless the outdoor dining area would be constructed over existing parking spaces. Finally, if the restaurant would like to serve alcohol within the proposed outdoor dining area, depending on the conditions of approval for the restaurant's CUP, this request may also require an additional CUP Modification, for an additional fee of $3,956. This information is summarized in the table below.
 

Size	< or = 25%	>25%
Approval	Administrative Adjustment	CUP Modification
Approval Authority	Director of Community and Economic Development	Planning Commission
Subject to Public Hearing	No	Yes
Fee	$334	$4,368
Parking	No Additional Parking Required	Requires Parking Study
Alcohol Service	May Require CUP Modification

Of the temporary outdoor dining areas that were approved for restaurants during the beginning of the pandemic, only four remain. If these restaurants were to replace their temporary outdoor dining areas with permanent areas, staff's preliminary analysis has determined that two restaurants would be subject to an Administrative Adjustment and two would require a CUP modification. If the size threshold were to be increased to 50 percent of the restaurant's total floor area, all would likely be able to be processed with an Administrative Adjustment.

On August 1, 2022, City Council directed staff to initiate an amendment to the zoning code to modify the approval process for restaurant outdoor dining areas, including outdoor dining areas with the sale of alcohol, to be subject to a size threshold of 50% of the restaurant's total floor area, as follows:
 

Size	< or = 50%	>50%
Approval	Administrative Adjustment	CUP Modification
Approval Authority	Director of Community and Economic Development	Planning Commission
Subject to Public Hearing	No	Yes
Fee	$334	$4,368
Parking	No Additional Parking Required	Requires Parking Study
Alcohol Service	Administrative Adjustment	CUP Modification

The requested changes to the Municipal Code are identified in full in Attachment No. 2.

The Fiscal Year 2022/23 fee to process an Administrative Adjustment is $334; the fee to process a CUP Modification is $3,956 and the associated environmental review is $412, for a total cost of $4,368, as identified in the Master Fee Schedule.

The proposal has been reviewed pursuant to the requirements of the City's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Municipal Permit, the Local Implementation Plan (LIP), and the Model Water Quality Management Plan (WQMP), Section 7.2. Since no disturbance of soil will occur, this project is exempted by the Water Quality Ordinance from the preparation of the WQMP.

The proposed Zone Change implements the following General Plan Policies:

The proposed Zoned Change implements the following City Council Goals and Objectives: