Commission approves spirits service, increases allowed screens and ties bike-rack to dining deck at Coastal (844 Hermosa Ave.)

The Hermosa Beach Planning Commission on May 20 approved a conditional use permit amendment to allow on-sale beer, wine and distilled spirits at Coastal, 844 Hermosa Avenue, and approved related modifications addressing bicycle parking and interior screens.

Assistant Planner Johnny Case told the commission the applicants, Dana Ireland and Tony Corte of LNB South Bay LLC, seek to expand alcohol service from beer-and-wine to include distilled spirits (ABC Type 47) and to remove an existing condition requiring a bicycle rack for six bikes. Case said staff found the CUP amendment consistent with required findings in the Hermosa Beach Municipal Code and recommended approval of the alcohol change but recommended denying the request to remove the bike-rack condition. Staff proposed a specific bike-rack location in the public right of way south of the outdoor dining area; Public Works reviewed and tentatively approved that location, subject to an encroachment permit and rack type approval.

Applicant Dana Ireland, owner of Coastal, said alcohol revenue is a necessary margin for restaurant survival and asked the commission to approve the amendment to achieve parity with similar downtown restaurants. Ireland also asked the commission to consider permitting up to 10 interior screens to accommodate business meetings and multimedia uses in a well-lit front room. "These devices...give us the flexibility to try and meet the needs of our customer," Ireland said, describing TVs more broadly as multimedia displays used at off-peak times.

Commissioners discussed three discrete issues: allowing distilled spirits (Type 47 license), the number of interior screens, and the bicycle-rack requirement. The commission approved the CUP amendment with two notable modifications: (1) increase the maximum permitted screens from 5 (the previous limit stated in CUP documents) to 10, and (2) allow the proposed six-bike rack in the public right of way only so long as the outdoor dining deck remains in its current configuration (if the dining deck is removed the bike-rack requirement will no longer apply and parking would be restored to the curb).

Commissioners also directed staff to finalize precise language tying the bike-rack requirement to the existence of the outdoor dining deck and to ensure any rack installation complies with public-works encroachment rules. The motion to adopt staff recommendation 25-08 with those two changes passed 5'0''. Staff noted the decision will be memorialized in the resolution and processed consistent with normal appeal procedures.