Artesia Approves Downtown Restaurant Owner's Expansion

After months of debate and public hearings, the Artesia City Council approved a plan by a restaurant to expand and also reached a resolution on how the establishment will pay the required in-lieu parking fees.

owner Roger Patel had been seeking permission from the city to expand his restaurant located on 11814 186th Street since July 2010, but had not reached an agreement with the city on in-lieu parking fees.

City attorney Kevin Ennis said that ordinance stipulates that businesses provide parking to customers, but his space prohibits such a parking space, so the city requires a one-time fee in place of providing parking. In his case, Patel is required to pay $10,000 per space, which with 13 spaces his fee would total $130,000. In addition, the owner would have to pay for an annual maintenance fee for parking spaces built by the city.

Patel said during public comment he had $65,000 ready to pay the in-lieu fee prior to receiving a certificate of occupancy, but was frustrated at the costs and the time to get his expansion working.

“Doing my math, do I want to do this or just go to another city and have three [restaurants]?” he said.

As Ennis explained the fees and timeframe of the permit during public comment, former councilmember John Martins criticized the city council for putting Patel through these fees and stalling his expansion plans.

“The in-lieu parking fee would be as expensive as the remodel itself,” Martins said. “Would it a be a good business decision to do that? On Mr. Patel’s part, I think it’s a poor decision. However it’s his business and he enjoys the city. I don’t know how it makes business sense, but it does to him.”

Martins added that the in-lieu and maintenance fees in the downtown area would discourage businesses from expanding or relocating and the city needs to “take a step back” from such costs.

“[Patel] may do this, but I don’t know how anyone else would want to do this,” he said. “It’s really unfair when you have to tell somebody else and you start seeing how many people would not come here [to Artesia] to expand businesses because of one person you might have made a good donation to the city.”

After some dialogue between city councilmembers and Ennis on how much Patel should pay and how he should pay, the vote was put on hold for a couple hours because the city attorney needed to make some necessary changes to the resolution.

After Ennis made the changes, which includes Patel having the option to pay the in-lieu fee in installments and lowering the maintenance fee—should the city build a parking space—to $6,500 a year, the city council gave its unanimous approval.

In a related issue, the city council adopted an ordinance that puts a moratorium on new or expanding restaurants that do not provide on-site parking with councilmember Michele Diaz opposed. The moratorium will last 45 days from adoption until the city council decides to extend the timeframe.

Parking Fine Increase Affirmed

The city council approved the Artesia Public Safety Commission’s recommendation to raise parking fines by $3 in light of the state surcharge on citations that cities pay to the state.

Administrative services manager Pradeepkumar Elayath said that while the state will benefit from the surcharge, the city will lose $15,000 in revenue as a result of the surcharge. He said that increasing the fees by three dollars would make up for that lost revenue.

, but has since been revised to $3.

Tax Reduction for Businesses

Businesses located on the second and higher floors of a building will see their taxes reduced starting July 1. The city council approved an ordinance that would reduce taxes to 10 cents per square foot on the second floor and seven cents per square foot for third and/or higher floors. The first floor of a business remains at 13.7 cents per square foot.

Since it will go into effect in the middle of the year, business will get a credit for one half of the year.

Appointment to Public Safety Commission

The city council appointed Mary Schamer to the Public Safety Commission, replacing vice chairperson John Bothof, who passed away last month. Councilmember Diaz submitted Schamer as the nominee to the commission.

The city council meeting ended with a moment of silence in memory of vice chairperson Bothof.

The next city council meeting is scheduled for Apr. 11 at 7 p.m. For more information, go to www.cityofartesia.us or call at (562) 865-6262.