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The Planning Commission on Monday, April 21, approved a permit to allow a dog grooming business to operate on the 100 block of Main Street. When opened, it will be the third dog grooming business in the Main Street area. The approval is subject to the approval of the Building Department for noise abatement.
According to the business plan, which was attached to the staff report, the business will be called Cozy Bear Grooming.
The meeting was sparsely attended. Two members of the public raised concerns about the proposed change to Main Street. The commission voted unanimously to approve the dog grooming business.
City staff recommended approving the applicant’s request for a minor use permit.
According to the report, the applicants will need to pay a first-time fee of $7,000 and an annual fee of $200 to cover the cost of being deficient by two car spaces.
Hearing
The following is not a transcript but highlights from the meeting.
Applicants Haydee and Bon Leowardy spoke first. They said they were excited about the new business
Kim Kelly, a Main Street merchant and real estate broker, said she looked at the application two different ways.
“The reason that people come here and our first two blocks are the really the only two blocks that we have that are dining and shopping. And I think that’s kind of how we always have wanted it to be. If you look at the third block, it’s, you know, people go to the end of I’m in the 200 block. They go to the end of the block and they kind of look at the third block and they’re they turn around and they come back because that’s not what they came here for. It is our kind of our services block,” Kelly said.
She said there were four dog grooming services in Seal Beach.
“I know that we have some vacancies on Main Street, but this is a temporary problem. We’ve been through this before and I would hate to see us make a permanent decision for a temporary problem because we have some vacancies,” Kelly said.
She was apparently referring to the nine currently empty commercial spaces on Main Street. (The Purple Galore and More Store is scheduled to close permanently.)
“But once we start to allow the service businesses in, we’ve got to allow it to everybody,” Kelly said.
“It completely changes the makeup of our small town,” Kelly said.
“I just don’t feel that a service business in that block is the best fit,” Kelly said.
Referring to past application for a real estate business on Main Street, she pointed out that the Planning Commission voted against that use.
Teresa Miller said she concurred with Kelly.
“While the dog grooming place is part of small town America, it’s not why people come here,” Miller said.
“I think it’s great to have a business on Main Street,” Miller said.
“We have a revenue problem and we need to have something that will draw not just people with dogs but people that want to buy and dine and spend a lot of money and come back,” Miller said.
Miller asked if the business was consistent with the Main Street Specific Plan.
“What is the designation for the business?” Miller asked.
She gave the applicants credit for opening a business. “But it might not be the right business right now for Main Street and Seal Beach,” Miller said.
“I don’t think that it is good for everybody,” Miller said.
“Because we have a beach and we have summer crowds and everything else, I think we need to be a little bit more discerning on what is the best for us from a revenue aspect as well,” Miller said.
Justina Wilcom spoke on behalf of the applicants. “We felt that the grooming business is going to be a good addition to downtown Seal Beach,” she said.
She said they felt that as people frequent the dining and retail businesses on Main, they could drop off the dog for grooming and then pick up the dog after.
District Two Commissioner Karen Nolta asked staff why previous applications for Main Street businesses were denied.
Community Development Director Alexa Smittle said she was only familiar with the real estate business, which she believed was in 2022. “The commission at the time made a decision that they didn’t feel it was an appropriate use on Main Street,” Smittle said.
Smittle said the Main Street Specific Plan does provide a pathway for a variety of businesses on Main Street.
“The Main Street Specific Plan says yes to certain things; it says no to certain things,” Smittle said.
Senior Planner Shaun Temple said professional offices are allowed on the second floor of the Main Street area and on streets that don’t front Main Street.
District One Commissioner said he recollected that the Specific Plan emphasized providing resident serving uses on Main.
Temple said it was supposed to be a mix of visitor and resident serving uses.
District Five Commissioner/Chair Margo Wheeler said dog grooming was more similar to a hairdresser or nail salon than an insurance agent. “When I go to the insurance agent, I don’t walk up and down the street and hang around. When I go to the dog groomer, probably that’s the longest amount of time I spend looking, going to the bakery or the coffee place or to whatever else is open while I wait for my little beloved to figure out her spa day,” Wheeler said.
She said she thought a good grooming place would draw people in.
She said she believed the use would further the Specific Plan.
District One Commissioner Calvin Mingione said the comments by Kelly and Miller were well-received. He said the Planning Commission was a quasi-judicial body. “Our job here is not to set policy or establish merit to particular types of use,” he said.
“It’s to review those uses against a set rule of findings,” he said.
Based on that, he seconded the motion to approve the application.
Background
“The applicant proposes establishing the dog grooming business at the 128 Main suite, which is currently vacant, but was previously occupied by a retail store,” according to the Garcia and Smittle report.
“The Main Street Specific Plan (MSSP) and Seal Beach Municipal Code (SBMC) Section 11.2.10.010 (Commercial and Mixed-Use Districts – Land Use Regulations) requires approval of a Minor Use Permit (MUP) to establish an animal sales and services use, which includes grooming services,” according to the Garcia and Smittle report.
“All business activities shall be conducted indoors to minimize potential noise impacts on the surrounding properties. Any exterior noise originating from the proposed use shall not exceed 55 decibels as established in Chapter 7.15 ‘Noise’ of the SBMC. Additionally, the approval will be conditioned to provide soundproofing materials in the areas within the business that will be occupied by dogs,” according to the Garcia and Smittle report.
Parking
“The parking regulations and standards as established by the SBMC Table 11.4.20.015.A.1 requires animal sales and services uses to provide 1 parking space for every 300 square feet of gross floor area. The suite measures 600 square feet and requires 2 parking spaces. As mentioned previously, the site has multiple uses on site, two commercial units fronting Main Street and a residential use behind the commercial units. The residential units have their designated garage parking spaces. However, no other onsite parking spaces can be feasibly provided due to the existing onsite development. The Main Street Specific Plan states that any or all of required parking for uses within Main Street can be satisfied through the Main Street In-Lieu Parking Program,” according to the Garcia and Smittle report.
Note: Kim Kelly is not related to the author.
