The operative statement regarding this article: “A staff report accompanying tonight’s agenda recommends that the council uphold the July 7 Planning Commission decision [denying the conditional use permit for Sala Thai].” That’s the first step; a big one. The full story follows…

Restaurant plan continues to rankle Hercules residents
By Tom Lochner

A rezoned building has become the proverbial fly in the ointment of a popular plan to develop the long-fallow Hercules waterfront.

On July 7, the Hercules Planning Commission denied a conditional-use permit to applicant Kay Sala to open Sala Thai Restaurant in the Civic Arts Building on Railroad Avenue, siding with residents of the adjacent Hercules Historic Homes that noise, odors and traffic would adversely affect the quiet neighborhood.

Two weeks later, the Hercules City Council approved the Waterfront Now Initiative with its plan for about 1,200 homes, as well as offices, shops, restaurants, a train station and a ferry terminal. The initiative also rezones several historic buildings, including Civic Arts — the latter apparently unbeknown initially to many officials and residents. The building’s new Historic Town Center zoning does not require a use permit for a restaurant from the Planning Commission, only a business license from the city finance department.

Sala is appealing the Planning Commission’s decision; the City Council will hear the appeal tonight.

The Civic Arts building previously was outside the waterfront district, but the initiative redrew the border to include it. Some Historic Homes residents have complained they were blindsided by the change. They note that at the July 7 Planning Commission meeting, city staff members talked about the “Public/Quasi-Public-Park” zoning that existed then and did not say the building might be rezoned soon. Planning Manager Dennis Tagashira said his staff was not aware of the contents of the Waterfront Now Initiative on July 7 and that he did not have a copy until after the City Council approved it July 22.

Ethan Sischo of developer AndersonPacific LLC said the request to rezone the historic buildings “came from the city.” But Tom Koch, a consultant for AndersonPacific, said, “the decision what to include and not to include was entirely internal” and was made by (AndersonPacific President) Jim Anderson in consultation with his team of planners, a design firm and a law firm.

Anderson did not return several calls last month.

Koch said the rezoning was done “on the advice of our legal counsel and planners to do something good for the city to clean up the strained zoning of those properties.”

He said the developer and the city had ongoing discussions about the waterfront and about “doing a comprehensive plan,” but as far as the rezoning, “I don’t think there was a sit-down and walk-through of the whole thing.”

A staff report accompanying tonight’s agenda recommends that the council uphold the July 7 Planning Commission decision. Last month, staff members suggested referring the matter back to the commission in light of the new zoning.

Mayor Joanne Ward and Councilman Ed Balico said last week that communication needs to be better.

Balico said that “to be fair to everybody,” the matter should go back before the Planning Commission, where “everybody will have a chance to have their say again.”

The latest staff report opines that Sala Thai restaurant could not offer on site-consumption of alcoholic beverages because it does not fall within the initiative’s definition of a “bar, tavern or nightclub” where on-site consumption of alcohol is allowed.