Half Moon Bay is considering an ordinance that would regulate empty or neglected downtown storefronts, potentially setting maintenance standards and increasing enforcement options for blighted, abandoned buildings.
The city is still working through the specifics of what the commercial vitality ordinance could look like in practice and is actively soliciting feedback from business owners and the merchants’ association, Economic and Community Vitality Manager Karen Decker said.
That could include requirements for property owners to notify the city when their property has been vacant for a certain amount of time, requiring some display of art or property rental information in windows of vacant buildings or specific cleanliness standards.
“We know that empty or neglected storefronts contribute to urban decay, diminish property values, discourage investment,” Decker said. “It’s also really discouraging for responsible property owners just doing the right thing.”
Whether the standards should apply to all commercial properties or just to vacant ones is still a point of active discussion for the city, though several councilmembers took the opportunity to raise concerns about the beautification practices at existing businesses.
Councilmember Patric Bo Jonsson, for example, raised concerns around merchants not keeping the areas around their storefront tidy and allowing employees to take up all the parking spaces around their business.
Others, like Councilmember Deborah Penrose, highlighted a specific business she believed was not upholding cleanliness and beautification standards fit for downtown.
“I have a personal bone to pick with Robyn Dunlap and her dark, dingy law office nobody is ever going into and coming out of,” she said. “I don’t want to make it difficult on merchants. At the same time, I want the language to be clear enough that something like Robyn Dunlap’s store can't exist.”
It could be beneficial for the city to use positive incentives, like showcasing a merchant of the month, as well as the more punitive enforcement actions — like notifications and eventually, fines — that the ordinance lays out for vacant stores, Mayor Robert Brownstone said.
And ultimately, it’s integral the city continues to solicit business community feedback, he added.
“We’re really going to have to … go back to the businesses and find out from them what's the difference between a vacancy and a more severe abandonment of a property, and what does enforcement look like, timeliness of it, penalties,” Brownstone said.
Of the few residents who spoke at the meeting, sentiment regarding a proposed ordinance was generally positive.
“What a relief to hear an ordinance presented in this manner,” community member Nancy Fontana said. “It takes into consideration the size of the city, it’s not overbearing, and you’re doing outreach to the people that have the businesses.”
The ordinance will be brought back for a first reading to the City Council when more specific regulation language is defined.
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