The fate of the Civic Arts Building is the only item on the agenda at this Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting…

Sala Thai restaurant makes another pitch in Hercules
By Tom Lochner

Sala Thai Restaurant, which wants to open at Hercules’ historic Civic Arts Building, will on Tuesday go before the Planning Commission once more — although apparently it wasn’t a requirement.

A restaurant no longer needs a conditional-use permit at Civic Arts, since the City Council on July 22 rezoned the building by adopting the Waterfront Now Initiative.

Two weeks earlier, the Planning Commission had denied Sala Thai owner Kay Sala’s request for a conditional-use permit, heeding objections from residents of the adjacent Hercules Historic Homes that the light, noise, smells and traffic related to a restaurant would disturb their quiet neighborhood.

Sala appealed to the City Council, which on Sept. 8 kicked back the matter to the Planning Commission for reconsideration under the new zoning.

Under the old “Public/Quasi-Public-Park” zoning, a restaurant needed a use permit. But the waterfront initiative, which ratified a development agreement for more than 1,200 living units, shops, offices and an intermodal transit center, also redrew the boundary of the Waterfront District with a loop incorporating the Civic Arts Building and rezoning it “Historic Town Center.” Under the new zoning, a restaurant needs only a business license from the finance department and a permit for tenant improvements.

On Tuesday, the Planning Commission will discuss rescinding its “no” vote of July 7 — even though a staff report accompanying the agenda item says that “the discretion it (the commission) had under the prior zoning was mooted by the Initiative.”

“The project’s applicants, proponents and opponents have been assured by the City Council that the matter will return to the Planning Commission and that their voices will be heard,” said City Attorney Mick Cabral. “They are entitled to be heard whether or not the Planning Commission has the authority to deny the pending application.”

What the commission does have authority over is whether Sala Thai would be allowed to serve alcohol at Civic Arts. According to the staff report, the owners do not wish to do so, but precedent suggests they might later.

When another restaurant, Won Thai, opened at the Willow Shopping Center several years ago, its owner did not want to serve alcohol until he was sure his restaurant would succeed, according to the staff report. “After 24 months, (the owner) did apply for beer and wine service … and was granted approval.”

Sala Thai spokesman Glen Cove did not return calls seeking a comment.

Whatever may happen at the Planning Commission, the City Council has the final say, according to Cabral and City Manager Nelson Oliva. This is because Sala Thai has only a tentative lease with the Hercules Redevelopment Agency and the council has not ratified it.

As of November, the redevelopment agency had spent $1.2 million to rehabilitate the Civic Arts building, out of a total allocation of $1.5 million, Oliva said.