Thursday, May

Moratorium on new chain businesses to appear on council’s agenda

City staff will prep an emergency ordinance and return to the council for a vote

BY EVELYN SPENCE

The Carpinteria City Council will vote on an emergency ordinance temporarily limiting new chain businesses within city limits, following a staff report and unanimous council direction on Monday night.

Following extensive discussion, City Legal Counsel Jena Shoaf Acos said the city’s legal team would work on a draft of a moratorium on new chain businesses, with a tentative return for the council’s approval at its next meeting. The council first requested a staff report on potential limits for chain businesses – also known as formula businesses – within city limits in February; while Monday’s direction is for an emergency ordinance draft, the council also expressed interest in a permanent ordinance limiting chain businesses in the city.

Councilmembers stated concerns with chain businesses specifically occupying Carpinteria’s downtown-T. “To me, our small, local business are a pillar of our community,” Vice Mayor Al Clark said, citing Councilmember Roy Lee’s own business, Uncle Chen Restaurant, as an example.

Other councilmembers voiced similar sentiments.

Community Development Director Steve Goggia told the council that some California cities have already implemented restrictions on chain businesses, noting issues where chain businesses can “squeeze out the smaller businesses.”

Per Goggia, chain businesses generally fall into a few categories: there are a specific number of locations throughout the country, generally more than 10, which all have standardized menus, décor, uniforms, facades, merchandises or other

KARLSSON

Councilmembers on Monday expressed concern with chain restaurants in Carpinteria’s downtown-T, and how that could affect small businesses in the area. They directed staff to prepare an emergency ordinance limiting new chain businesses.

“recognizable appearances.”

Goggia and Shoaf Acos both referenced the city of Ojai’s chain business regulations as an example. Anti-chain business ordinances have been in place in Ojai since 2007, which outright banned future fast-food formula businesses, and required that all other chain businesses have conditional-use permits. In 2021, the city introduced a moratorium banning all future chain businesses with more than five locations.

“In California, there is a well-established history with formula business restrictions at both city and county levels,” Shoaf Acos told the council on Monday. “Judicial precedent in California has upheld these types of regulations.”

In Carpinteria, how a permanent ordinance might look would be at the council’s discretion. For example, council could choose to limit all types of chain businesses outright, limit only fast-food chain businesses, require all chain businesses to have conditional-use permits and so on, with the goal of preserving the city’s small-town feel, according to Goggia.

“You can craft this ordinance the way you would like it to be crafted,” Goggia said. “There are a lot of options with all of these.”

Warner Ebbink, the owner of Little Dom’s Seafood on Linden Avenue, urged the council during public comment to pass an ordinance limiting new chain businesses in the city. Ebbink expressed concern that real estate changes in Carpinteria could lead to more chain stores.

“There are really expensive pieces of prime commercial real estate (in Carpinteria) that are going to start changing hands,” Ebbink said. “That’s not going to be a mom-and-pop business that goes in there – they can’t pay the rent.”

In other council news...

A near end to Highway 101 construction in Carpinteria

Public Relations Coordinator Kirsten Ayers told the council on Monday that construction in the Carpinteria segment of the Highway 101 project is wrapping up. An event will be held to open up the new carpool southbound lanes “in about a month,” Ayers said.

“We are in our final steps in the new lanes and ramps in the area,” she added. There will be some landscaping done in the area later this summer, but construction will soon primarily shift to the Padaro and Summerland construction segments.

Councilmembers asked Ayers about the Santa Claus Lane path for bike riders and pedestrians, which will stretch through Carpinteria and end at Santa Claus Lane. Ayers said construction for that path is scheduled to start in the fall.

Construction will now primarily shift to the Padaro segment of the Highway 101 construction project, with goals laid out over the next few years.

mUnify’s 55th anniversary – and the second designated May 15 – 21 as National Public Works Week. Councilmember Natalia Alarcon recused herself from the former’s vote, noting that she works for CommUnify.

CommUnify, formerly the Community Action Commission of Santa Barbara County, serves over 8,000 teens, seniors and other disadvantaged individuals in the area, CommUnify’s CEO Patricia Keelean said. She thanked the council for its recognition.

“May is a significant month: it is the national community action month,” Keelean said. “(We) have grown to provide 17 different programs, including Head Start, which serves 24 different centers across the county, including Carpinteria.”

“We’re looking forward to the next 55 (years),” she emphasized.

Public Works Director John Ilasin spoke on the National Public Works Week proclamation, explaining that this year’s theme is Ready and Resilient.

Councilmembers thanked both CommUnify and the city’s public workers. “We’re fortunate to have each and every one of you here,” Councilmember Roy Lee said.