Restaurant Space in Lake Forest

What to diligence before LOI

1. 01

   Beer, wine and cocktails: the Land Use Matrix in Section 9.72.090 permits both Restaurant and Restaurant with Bar by right (P) in the C and UA columns and prohibits both in PA. Section 9.04.030 defines Restaurant with Bar as one serving drinks under an ABC Type 41 or 47 license, so a bona fide eating place with a full bar needs no use permit here. A Bar or Cocktail Lounge (Type 40, 42 or 48) needs a use permit (U), and a Nightclub is U in the C column only and also needs an entertainment permit under Chapter 5.36. Keep the concept in the restaurant categories if you want to avoid a Planning Commission hearing.

2. 02

   Hours and industrial sites: a Late-Night Use, meaning any business open to patrons between midnight and 5:00 a.m., needs a use permit in every commercial column, and Section 9.72.050 limits CN district business hours to 6:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Restaurants are prohibited in the I column except for the limited allowance in the Pacific Commercentre business park (footnote 20), so check the zoning of any Bake Parkway or Lake Forest Drive business park building before touring it for food.

3. 03

   Seating and parking: Section 9.168.070 item 31 requires 10 spaces minimum or 1 per 100 sq ft for indoor dining of 17 or more seats (1 per 80 sq ft above 4,000 sq ft), 1 per 200 sq ft for 16 or fewer seats with mainly take-away sales, nothing for a patio of 16 or fewer seats, and 1 per 100 sq ft of patio for 17 or more. Item 34 lets food uses in a shopping center of at least 8,000 sq ft with four or more different tenants park at the center's 1 per 200 sq ft ratio, which can make a full-service deal work in an El Toro Road center. Shared parking under Section 9.168.090 needs a study using at least two data sources, a buffer and a contingency plan.

4. 04

   Patios: Outdoor Dining is an accessory use (A) in the C and UA columns, and footnote 1 limits accessory uses to 15% of the principal use's floor area, so ask Planning whether a patio on a 3,000 sq ft restaurant is capped near 450 sq ft. Section 9.72.085(A)(6) keeps everything else inside an enclosed building unless a site development or use permit allows it. In Foothill Ranch, the PC 8 text (Section X) allows outdoor dining only where it is shown on the approved site plan, keeps unenclosed trash areas 50 ft from residential zones and sends parking to its own Section XIX.

5. 05

   Kitchen, health and grease: OC Health Care Agency's Plan Check unit reviews every new or remodeled food facility, and a health permit application is due before final inspection, including on a change of ownership. Sewer service is split. IRWD serves parts of Lake Forest and requires a grease interceptor for a new food service establishment, a change of ownership, a change of operations, or a remodel that adds under-slab plumbing, seating, kitchen area or different cooking equipment, sized to California Plumbing Code Table 1014.3.6. El Toro Water District serves other portions and requires a Wastewater FOG Application from every commercial kitchen. On an IRWD address, a change of ownership alone can trigger an interceptor.

6. 06

   Approvals and opening: Section 9.184.020 processes site development permits (needed for a drive-through) administratively unless the Director refers them to the Planning Commission, while use permits always go to a public hearing. Lake Forest issues no business license, but Section 9.192.010 bars occupying a building altered by tenant improvements until the Director issues a certificate of use and occupancy, after a finding that the use meets zoning and any permit conditions. Tie rent commencement to that certificate and the health permit.