Name: Santa Monica’s Fast-Food Ban Could Have Consequences For Restaurant Takeout
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Santa Monica’s Fast-Food Ban Could Have Consequences For Restaurant Takeout

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Filed under:A renewed city ordinance outlawing takeaway food at the Promenade is inadvertently targeting to-go sales at local restaurants, tooWay back in the wild world of 2018, the Santa Monica City Council to issue an Urgency Interim Zoning Ordinance prohibiting fast-food restaurants with more than 100 locations nationwide from opening on the Third Street Promenade. At the time, the ordinance was designed to avoid a cluster of big-money fast food business on the Promenade (in part because of the high rents there, which are easier for national chains to pay), thus maintaining some of the pedestrian plaza’s local charm. Last week, the council even extended the .Sounds mostly fine, right? Well, maybe not. As it turns out, the specific language within the city ordinance expressly prohibits any establishment on Third Street Promenade where “orders [are] placed at a walk-up window, counter, or machine,” “payment [is completed] prior to food consumption,” and “food [is] served with disposable, one-time, or limited-use wrapping, containers, or utensils.” Which, during the ongoing pandemic, is every restaurant.With a state-mandated, regionally-specific ban on all on-site dining still in effect across Los Angeles County (and indeed, the 11-county Southern California region as a whole), Santa Monica’s ordinance — at least for sticklers — poses a problem. Promenade restaurants like Barney’s Beanery, Silverlake Ramen, and Azule Taqueria now function as fast food joints, and it’s unclear what kind of local-led revitalization the Promenade can expect as long as the current ordinance remains in place, at least for this year. One of the more recent tenants, Social Eats food hall, falls entirely under the ordinance’s restrictions concerning fast food, and with the ordinance now extended, the language won’t be put back in front of Santa Monica’s Planning Commission for some time. LA County public health officials said today that one person is dying from COVID-19 at overworked area hospitals and that intensive care unit bed capacity is still at roughly zero percent, meaning there’s no sign that a broader restaurant reopening .The Promenade, meanwhile, is in its own broader sticky situation as the aging thoroughfare tries to find ways to stay relevant with shoppers and tourists. In 2019, the an overhaul to provide more outdoor seating, landscaping, and an overall refresh to compete with places like Westfield Century City. That plan is already moving forward with MIG, Inc., as the company prepares a Third Street Promenade Stabilization &amp; Economic Vitality Plan to shore the street up for years to come. Given the ordinance in place that plan is not likely to include more fast food chains, but with rents still sky-high in the area, it’s far from certain that local businesses will be able to occupy any empty storefronts in the coming months or even years.Throughout 2020, Third Street Promenade has been a shell of itself, with considerably less visitors thanks to the pandemic — and national infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci estimating that the country until late 2021 at the earliest.Sign up for our newsletter.Sign up for our newsletter.Filed under:Filed under:

Filed under:A renewed city ordinance outlawing takeaway food at the Promenade is inadvertently targeting to-go sales at local restaurants, tooWay back in the wild world of 2018, the Santa Monica City Council to issue an Urgency Interim Zoning Ordinance prohibiting fast-food restaurants with more than 100 locations nationwide from opening on the Third Street Promenade. At the time, the ordinance was designed to avoid a cluster of big-money fast food business on the Promenade (in part because of the high rents there, which are easier for national chains to pay), thus maintaining some of the...

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Mona Holmes

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Santa Monica’s Fast-Food Ban Could Have Consequences For Restaurant Takeout

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