Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Economic Development Main Street topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Main Street business owners urge faster approvals, point to utility and parking hurdles
Summary
Downtown Yorba Linda business owners told the council that development on Main Street faces high in-lieu parking costs, long utility upgrade timelines and infrastructure constraints; staff said the city has made loans and will continue to assist.
Downtown property and business owners urged the Yorba Linda City Council to speed approvals and shore up infrastructure on Main Street, saying high in-lieu parking costs, slow utility upgrades and other entitlement fees are slowing investment.
Nick Saba, owner of Tara Wood Fire Kitchen on Main Street, told the council his experience developing two projects has been delayed by electrical upgrades and permitting timelines. He said bringing upgraded electrical power to two projects took years and nearly $200,000 in shared transformer costs that were split among six neighboring properties; the city made loans available to two property owners for their shares, Saba said.
Saba also cited the town-center-specific plan and the in-lieu parking program: six years ago the in-lieu cost to provide required stalls for a 2,000-square-foot restaurant was about $80,000; he said today that same in-lieu cost would be about $112,000. He urged the council to consider incentives such as faster city approvals, fee waivers or reductions to accelerate redevelopment on Main Street.
Greg Brown, a downtown property owner and organizer of the recent "Boots on Main" event, praised the event’s turnout and suggested a visible law-enforcement presence during large gatherings, including consideration of a patrol vehicle in the parking-structure vantage point to improve coverage during large downtown events.
City Manager Mark Pallone responded during his report that the city has been involved in several Main Street infrastructure projects. He confirmed the city helped arrange loans for property owners sharing transformer costs and that one parcel identified by residents (Nixon Park area next to Mimi’s) is privately owned and maintained by the shopping center owner. Pallone said staff will continue to work with property owners to address fire-safety and infrastructure concerns.
No formal council action was taken on the requests during the meeting; council members expressed support for continuing to look for ways to streamline approvals and support downtown owners as projects move forward.
