Council to consider hours of operation on individual basis
Neighborhood markets in Ocean Park may be allowed to keep their doors open after all.
In response to an upswelling of resident support, the City Council on Tuesday pushed through legislation that will allow the small markets to stay put and even petition City Hall for longer hours.
Though the markets for decades have opened as early as 7 a.m. and closed as late as midnight, the Planning Commission recently forbid them from being open before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
That law is set to take effect next month.
Hundreds of community members have voiced support for the markets’ current hours since the law was passed, saying they lend character and charm to the neighborhood while providing a convenient service.
Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to renew the permits for the markets and said the hours the markets keep should be considered on a case-by-case basis.
“They’re an important asset to the city,” said Councilman Herb Katz, adding that he thinks the markets should be allowed to keep their old hours. “People need a neighborhood market. They add a great help and charm to our city.”
Nazmul “Hawk” Haque, owner of the Fair Market, located on Fourth Street near Pacific Street, has lived in Ocean Park for 16 years and said he appreciates the council’s decision.
“It’s good news,” said Haque, who gathered nearly 1,000 signatures since April from residents who support his shop. “I see the council people and they are positive with the stores.
“Anyway, now we have to try to get the regular hours. If we have to pay, we will find a way.
“It’s hard,” he added. “We already suffer from lost business.”
City officials said the markets won’t have to pay to have their petitions heard. The Fair Market’s request will be heard in October alongside a separate planning issue. The Budget Market, located at Fourth Street and Hollister Avenue, will be scheduled for a hearing as soon as store owners file a petition.
That leaves just the Marine Market on Seventh Street.
Though it already complies with the city’s hours of operation requirements, the Planning Commission in April ordered the Marine Market to implement several upgrades, including restoring its original windows that were boarded up after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Neighbors say the cost of the work, which would eliminate two murals on the side of the building, would be extensive and could threaten the livelihood of owners Hong and Young Ahn, known in the neighborhood as “Kim” and “James.”
The Ahns have appealed the Planning Commission’s ruling and will go before the City Council in October.
All three markets have been in violation of city law for years, said Bruce Leach, a city planner. When the buildings were constructed in the 1920s, there were no zoning laws. When the codes were put into place in 1948, the markets were given 25 years to change into residential use. But in the early 1970s, the store owners argued they needed more time to convert and they were granted another 10 years to comply with the laws. Then in the 1980s, residents went to bat for the little markets and they were given conditional use permits that expired in 2000.
But in 1988, a strict new set of zoning ordinances governing neighborhood markets went into effect. Among other things, the ordinances limited the hours of operation of local markets.
The owners’ applications for renewals of those permits had been sitting in City Hall for more than two years before the Planning Commission approved the applications in April but held the markets to a list of upgrades and restrictions.
Besides keeping the shorter hours, all three markets were asked to take down signs, clean up surrounding vegetation, repaint walls, maximize parking and institute a variety of small upgrades.
The permits were then sent on to the City Council, which gave its formal stamp of approval Tuesday night, while ruling that the hours of each market should be considered individually.
“The city has recognized the value of these markets,” Leach said Thursday. “They’re not the typical 7-11 or the typical liquor store. These markets have actually become a part of the neighborhood culture.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 11, 2003. Read the original PDF.