Council study session spotlights downtown vacancy, parking and permitting as barriers to business recruitment

At a Laguna Beach City Council study session (date not specified), consultants from Cosmock Companies presented results of a business and community survey and market analysis, and council members, staff and local business owners discussed parking requirements, permitting predictability and steps to reduce downtown retail vacancy.

The presentation, led by Bobby Valente, senior vice president of Cosmock Companies, reported that the city has about 1,300,000 square feet of retail inventory and a recent retail vacancy of roughly 8.3 percent, drifting toward 7.5 percent; about one-third of that vacant space is the former Gelson’s store, and excluding that site vacancy would be nearer 5 percent. Valente said market rents in Laguna Beach average about $62 per square foot and that the downtown area draws roughly 137,000 weekly visits, with about 40 percent of visits on weekends and 36 percent of visits occurring between June and August.

Why it matters: council members and business owners said the combination of high rents, summer visitor peaks and a permitting and parking regime they described as unpredictable is keeping local-serving businesses from opening or expanding. That dynamic affects sales-tax revenue, storefront activation and the city’s ability to recruit tenants that match renovated hotel inventories, officials said.

“The predictability is probably something almost even more important than the other part,” said Ken Hera, president of Cosmock Companies, referring to permitting timelines and regulatory uncertainty. He and Valente urged streamlining permitting, improving predictability and exploring targeted tenant recruitment and marketing.

Business-survey details presented to the council showed about 389 overall survey responses across resident, employee and visitor surveys and 84 business-survey responses from owners, managers or property owners. About 44 percent of business respondents said they were Chamber of Commerce members; roughly 57 percent of respondents identified their location as downtown. Respondents identified parking and traffic, rent, and city fees and regulations as prominent business challenges; many also expressed support for public events, outdoor dining and pedestrian zones as ways to increase foot traffic.

Local business owners who spoke during public comment described long permitting timelines and onerous parking standards. A local sandwich shop owner said the permit process took more than two years in his case. “It took me 27 months to get through the city and the county,” the speaker said, describing the time and financial strain. Kelly Cornwall, owner of Spigot Liquor, urged short-term measures to help businesses during peak season, including providing temporary public restrooms.

Council members and staff responded by highlighting possible next steps: revise parking standards citywide (the council noted the downtown parking standard had already been reduced in a prior action), examine in-lieu parking rules, pilot storefront activations and pop-ups, and review permitting timelines to identify bottlenecks. One council member asked the city manager to return with parking proposals working with community development staff.

No formal votes or ordinance adoptions occurred during the study session; the meeting was a discussion-oriented session and closed without specific legislative action. Council members said staff will pursue follow-up work on parking management, permitting process review and options for business recruitment and activation.

Taper: Council members said they view the Cosmock report as a starting point for policies to reduce vacancy and support local-serving businesses. Staff and consultants recommended a mix of short-term activations and longer-term regulatory and tenant-recruitment strategies; council members asked staff to bring specific proposals back for future consideration.