Beverly Hills Expands OpenBH Program

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Beverly Hills recently expanded its OpenBH program, allowing businesses to request partial lane closures and metered parking spaces.

The OpenBH initiative was approved by the City Council in June to temporarily allow businesses to expand operations into parking lots or sidewalks through a Special Events Permit process. The program also waives the roughly $800 special events permit fee that would normally be charged to block off public space. 26 Beverly Hills businesses are currently taking advantage of the program, according to Magdalena Davis, the city’s special events and filming coordinator.

At a July 14 meeting, the City Council asked to look into possibly extending the original program to include full street closures or lane closures, either at the request of businesses or by direction from the City Council.

Staff from the city and the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce identified areas on South Beverly Drive and North Cañon Drive as possible locations for temporary business set-ups. A city staff report said that while existing businesses in the area generally do not want full streets shut down, they are open to partial street closures and expansion into parking lots.

The Chamber of Commerce asked the city to pay for traffic control devices, and to block off curb lanes for extended sidewalks whenever there is support from more than half the businesses on the block.

The City Council unanimously supported these initiatives.