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Local owners tell Daly City commission they need help with parking and fear displacement by proposed dealership expansion
Summary
During a Nov. 14 Small Business Commission meeting, a Wingstop manager asked the city to address double‑parking on Lake Merced Boulevard; owners in City Heights warned that a possible Mercedes expansion could displace long‑standing small businesses, though staff said no land‑use application has been filed.
At a Nov. 14 meeting of the Daly City Small Business Commission, multiple small‑business owners voiced safety and displacement concerns and asked the city for concrete follow‑up.
Fernando Ortiz, manager at Wingstop in the Westlake Shopping Center, asked the commission to evaluate parking restrictions on Lake Merced Boulevard after pandemic‑era signs were removed. "We're requesting if the city could help us with evaluating adding... implement the same rule for the entire block," Ortiz said, citing renewed double‑parking that hampers access for disabled patrons and creates safety risks.
Commission members acknowledged the safety issue and staff advised that different complaints route to different departments (public works for illegal dumping and street issues; planning or building for permitting matters). Ortiz said he had previously engaged enforcement and a traffic sergeant but had not received an engineering response.
Christina Cantara, a small‑business owner in the City Heights complex who said she has operated in Daly City for 20 years, urged the commission to protect tenant businesses from redevelopment. "Our lease is supposed to end in a few months," she said, and warned that conversion to a dealership or parking lot would displace minority‑ and women‑owned restaurants and services.
Planning staff responded that the Mercedes dealership discussed by tenants is located in South San Francisco adjacent to Daly City and that a car dealership or vehicle storage in the C‑1 zone would require a discretionary use permit reviewed by the Planning Commission and City Council; staff stated no application had been submitted to the city.
The commission read a letter from Maria Lourdes Yao, DDS of City Heights Dental that asked the commission to preserve the property for small businesses because the clinic provides essential services and employs local residents.
Commissioners said they would follow up with planning staff and the property owner to clarify the status and to look for ways to support affected merchants. No land‑use decision was made at the meeting.
