South Pasadena staff to draft rules requiring community meetings, more council review for some alcohol and live-entertainment permits

South Pasadena's City Council on March 18 directed staff to prepare a zoning-code amendment that would require structured community meetings for certain discretionary development projects and change how some conditional use permits (CUPs) for alcohol sales and live entertainment are decided.

Erica Ramirez, the city's Community Development Director, told the council the draft ordinance would require applicants to host at least one community meeting, provide plans and meeting minutes to the city, and notify property owners and occupants within a 500-foot radius (with staff authority to extend notice to the end of the block). Ramirez said the proposal would generally require two community meetings for large development projects but that staff can make the rule flexible based on project type.

Ramirez also described a two-step change to CUP review: the Planning Commission would hold an initial hearing and make a recommendation, and the City Council would hold a second public hearing to make the final decision for CUPs that involve alcohol sales or live entertainment. Ramirez said ministerial housing projects would be excluded from the requirement.

Councilmembers debated the number of meetings, the notice radius and meeting format. Several members said a 500-foot notification area would be appropriate for the city's scale and that community meetings should include a hybrid option (in-person with a virtual participation option). "One meeting is plenty" for most proposals, Councilmember Braun said, adding that developers can always hold more meetings voluntarily. Councilmember Primuth and others suggested two meetings for high-impact development projects while keeping one meeting for typical use-permit requests.

Council directed staff to incorporate that feedback and return with a finalized ordinance. Ramirez said the draft zoning ordinance will follow the normal land-use process: it will first go to the Planning Commission for review and then return to the City Council for formal consideration and any adoption vote.

Next steps: staff will prepare revised code language based on the direction to a 500-foot base notification radius, a hybrid community meeting requirement and targeted council review for alcohol- and live-entertainment-related CUPs, and will present the draft to the Planning Commission before it returns to the council.