Planning Commission Hear Zoning Code Changes to Give City More Authority in Dealing With Assisted Living Facilities

[UPDATED] The Planning Commission will hear proposed changes to the city’s zoning code that would terminate nonconforming uses in the event of the revocation, termination or suspension of any license or permit that is required in order to operate a nonconforming business.

The amendment could allow the city more authority in dealing with assisted living facilities.

“The City Council has expressed concerns about potential impacts associated with certain types of land uses when they become concentrated in any one particular geographic region,” a city staff report reads. “Specifically, the overconcentration of land uses identified as Residential Care – General, may be incompatible with an otherwise residential neighborhood given their commercial nature and 24 hour operations.”

An overconcentration of these types of facilities currently exists on Fair Oaks Avenue, near Washington Boulevard, according to a city staff report.

“The proposed text amendment seeks to ensure that nonconforming uses that require a license or permit to operate, may not be re-established if that license is revoked or suspended,” state the report. 

Earlier this month, city staff recommended that the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals deny an effort to re-establish a nonconforming use at the site of a previous recovery center on North Raymond Avenue.

Pasadena Senior Villa Living is attempting to open a residential care facility at  1811 N. Raymond Ave., the previous location of the Pasadena Recovery Center.

But under current zoning codes, a residential care facility is not permitted in the zoning district, which is zoned for a multifamily residential home. 

The residential care facility’s use was grandfathered in and subsequent facility operated as a nonconforming use.

Nonconforming uses were established before the codes and policies that are in place today were approved, and allow businesses to operate outside of current regulations, including zoning codes.

The city revoked the site’s nonconforming use one year after the Pasadena Recovery Center closed in 2018 and the nonconforming use was not used for 12 months.

Many of the facilities are “grandfathered,” which means they opened years ago before current rules were in place regulating the facilities.

Under the city’s current provisions, some noncomforming businesses can close for up to 12 months and maintain their nonconforming status if they reopen, even if the businesses have been sold. 

Bars and restaurants with drive-thrus could also be impacted by the change if it is approved by the City Council in the future.

City staff also recommended that the city’s hearing officer deny a proposed Chick-fil-A conditional use permit (CUP) due to issues with a proposed drive-thru lane on North Lake Avenue, just north of Orange Grove Boulevard. Drive-thrus are also a nonconforming use and new ones are not permitted at that end of town. The building can be demolished and rebuilt as a drive-thru, but it can not be larger than the existing Carl’s Jr. However, the current size of the drive-thru is below city standards.

In 2004, the city reeled in nonconforming liquor stores that opened years before local businesses were required to obtain a CUP, allowing them to operate only under state rules. 

The city’s 2004 “deemed-approved ordinance” allowed the city to place local conditions of operation on many of the nuisance stores on Orange Grove Boulevard negatively impacting the quality of life in that area. 

In one example, operating conditions were imposed on Super Liquor after a two-year investigation by the state Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC), resulting in a 15-day suspension of the store’s business license. The agency determined that the owners needed to seek a conditional license and honor existing conditions imposed by the ABC. 

Four of those conditions included hiring a security guard, picking up litter around the store, labeling alcoholic beverages and using bags with the store’s name. 

Under these conditions, the store can only sell alcohol between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. The city imposed its own operating conditions — which mirrored those laid down by the ABC.

The Planning Commission meeting, still online due to COVID-19 restrictions, begins on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 4:30 p.m. Members of the community may access the meeting through Video Conference at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88930607370 or by phone at 1 (669) 900-6833 – Webinar ID: 889 3060 7370