Restaurant Space in Huntington Beach

What to diligence before LOI

1. 01

   Base zoning (Section 211.04): 'Eating and Drinking Establishments' are permitted in CO, CG and CV. With alcohol, live entertainment or outdoor dining the table calls for a Zoning Administrator conditional use permit, and with dancing a Planning Commission CUP. Provision N of Section 211.05 exempts restaurants and bars from the alcohol CUP when they are 300 feet or more from any R or PS district, public or private school, church or public use, and provision W allows non-amplified live entertainment without a CUP more than 300 feet from a residential zone or use. Measure those 300-foot distances before the LOI, because they decide whether you need a hearing at all.

2. 02

   Patios: provision X allows outdoor dining without alcohol of 400 sq ft or less with no use permit, requires Neighborhood Notification (an Administrative Permit under Chapter 241) above 400 sq ft, and requires a Zoning Administrator CUP for any outdoor dining with alcohol. A beer and wine patio at a Beach Boulevard center is a hearing item even if the indoor license is exempt under provision N.

3. 03

   Parking (Section 231.04): an eating or drinking use with 12 seats or fewer is 1 space per 200 sq ft, the same as retail, but more than 12 seats is 1 per 60 sq ft, or 1 per 100 sq ft on a site with three or more uses. Dancing adds 1 per 50 sq ft of dance area and a drive-through adds queue space for 5 cars per window. A 3,000 sq ft full-service restaurant needs 30 spaces in a multi-tenant center but 50 on its own lot, so single-use pads are harder to park than inline space.

4. 04

   Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan (2010, amended 2015): the plan's use chart permits full-service eating and drinking and outdoor dining, makes alcohol, live entertainment and dancing conditional uses, lets sidewalk tables stay if a five-foot clear path and the full building entrance width are kept open, and caps each eating and drinking establishment at 5,000 sq ft inside a Neighborhood Center retail cluster. Ask Planning whether your Beach or Edinger address is in the plan and which segment applies.

5. 05

   Coast and downtown: Section 211.08 requires a Coastal Development Permit in the coastal zone unless the project is exempt, provision J requires the entire ground floor of a CV property to be visitor-oriented, and provision Z places Pacific City in District 7 of the Downtown Specific Plan. Nightclubs and restaurants with entertainment also fall under Municipal Code Chapter 5.44 (Entertainment Permits), which we did not read. Budget for the coastal permit and an entertainment permit on a PCH or Main Street deal. For the state license, ABC's Type 41 (beer and wine) and Type 47 (full liquor) eating place licenses both require a working kitchen and real meal sales.

6. 06

   Kitchen and grease: OC Health Care Agency's Plan Check unit reviews every new or remodeled food facility. The City's FOG program page says new food service establishments that cook, process or render beef, poultry or fish must install an inline grease removal device (hydro-mechanical or gravity interceptor) under Municipal Code Section 14.56, and that restaurants with a grease device are inspected once a year while those without are inspected at least twice. Ask the landlord for the existing interceptor's size and pumping log before you commit to a grill or fryer menu.