How Atascadero gets businesses where they don't belong

I’ve always thought one of the most abused provisions of a city’s General Plan has been the conditional use permit, more commonly referred to as a “CUP.” A council friend told me years ago that the CUP was the safety valve to allow businesses and uses where they really hadn’t been allowed, but “would be good for Atascadero.”

It is how we got a metal beer-making factory and restaurant in the downtown where metal buildings were specifically prohibited. Both the brewery and restaurant have long been abandoned, but the building is still there.

We’ve lost potentially good retail commercial properties to uses “permitted” under certain conditions, such as a martial arts studio in the former Grisanti Hardware store, and even a gymnasium in the spot formerly occupied by Outlet Tool Supply, which was my favorite store in the entire town.

That gymnasium is in the Vons Shopping Center. There is now a tug-of-war over parking spaces between the health spa and the market.

And now there is a request to take prime retail commercial property that was once Spencer’s Fresh Market and turn it into a gym. Although such a use is not allowed in retail commercial zoning, it can go there under the conditional use permit process.

The city’s Planning Commission already approved the gym at a previous meeting. That approval was appealed, and Wednesday, the council takes up the matter.

My concern is that this city is too quick to apply the CUP process. The philosophy seems to be that non-conforming businesses beat an empty building.

It seems like we no sooner get a master plan in place and there is pressure to change it.

I remember when the downtown plan came out against non-retail uses on the ground floor, such as doctors, attorneys, bookkeepers and such. That restriction lasted until local business owners had empty stores they wanted to rent to those very same non-retailers.

The City Council will hold a public hearing on the request to open Fitness Evolution in the former market as part of its regular meeting that begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday. To make it clear, my issue is with the over-use of the CUP process and not this specific proposed business.

This story was originally published May 25, 2015 at 1:59 PM with the headline "How Atascadero gets businesses where they don't belong."