All Expect Parking Will Get Worse, But New Business Gets OK

While saying they personally supported  from moving into a business complex at 13317 Ventura Boulevard due to a severe lack of parking, planning commissioners on Thursday denied the appeal because their hands were tied by city regulations.

As a result of the vote by members of the South Valley Area Planning Commission, popular pastry chef Amy Brown will be allowed to move ahead with plans to open her Brown Sugar Marketplace in a 1,300-square-foot storefront in the complex near Fulton Avenue.

City bylaws maintain that, based on its size and operation as a restaurant and store, Brown Sugar Marketplace would need to provide eight parking spaces. However, the complex already has nine businesses sharing 10 parking spaces and no other parking facilities are available nearby.

Although Brown Sugar Marketplace could not create or find spaces within or near the complex's property, zoning regulations allow it an exemption if it pays a monthly "parking deficiency fee," which Brown has agreed to do. As a result, the city planning director gave approval for the business.

The storefront that Brown Sugar Marketplace plans to enter had been occupied for 20 years by the Texas Cleaners dry-cleaning service, whose customers usually occupied parking spaces for a short time as they dropped off and picked up items.

Fatima Marques, owner of Natas Pastries, located within the same complex, appealed the planning director's decision, citing the shortage of parking in that area of Ventura Boulevard.

At Thursday's meeting in the  Marvin Braude Constituent Service Center in Van Nuys, Commissioners Noelle Guzmon, Lydia Drew Mather and Gordon Murley agreed with Marques' argument. But since Brown complied with the zoning regulations by commiting to pay the fee, they said they were forced to deny Marques' appeal.

Marques, along with her husband Tyler Slocum, expressed disappointment in the ruling. 

"The commissioners even said themselves that they were in favor of the appeal but they were not able to [approve it] because of the laws that are in place at this point," said Marques, who opened Natas Pastries in 2005. "That makes me very sad."

"I think it just reinforces the fact that the appeal process is essentially just a show," Slocum said. "The commission had strong feelings that we are in the right but, unfortunately, this process is not a fair process. Everyone's hands are tied, and everyone acknowledged that the city rules are completely upside-down."

City planner Daniel O'Donnell explained during the hearing that the California Environmental Quality Act no longer cites parking as a potential traffic impact, meaning that once Brown agreed to pay the fee, the city director of planning was required to approve the project. 

"You’d essentially be on your own finding a reason for denying this," O'Donnell told the commission. "The [city planning] director had no reason to deny this."

"Because of the change of the rules, our hands are tied," Guzman said. "I feel very uncomfortable about this but I don’t think we can do anything."

Murley commented that the city should consider revisiting its parking arrangements. 

"You have a business willing to pay the money, but the problem still exists," Murley said. "Until the city provides more public parking to alleviate the problem, I don’t know what we can do with this."

Brown and her business associate Ricardo Valdez attended the meeting. Valdez said they had searched for a way to alleviate the cramped parking situation, and also considered incorporating valet parking within the center.

"I was not aware of the parking situation when I signed the lease back in August," Brown said during the hearing. "I understand what they’re saying, but at the same time, we’re following the rules. I don’t see anything wrong with following the rules."

The planning commission's ruling does not put aside another dispute within the complex. Marques has , Michael Braum, bringing in a business that she considers a competitor.

Brown, who has been on the Los Angeles culinary scene for several years, currently operates a virtual bakery on her Brown Sugar L.A. website.