Half Moon Bay plans storefront standards

Occupied storefronts — including those downtown and throughout the city — would also be legally required to keep building exteriors neat and orderly, including clean windows, paint and finishings and emptying dumpsters regularly.

If the city formally passes the ordinance, it would be prudent to include specific examples and images of what clean, tidy storefronts look like to prevent subjective enforcement and give business owners a clear idea of the new standards, Vice Mayor Debbie Ruddock said. She expressed some concern that the city “has bitten off more than we can chew.”

“I was mostly interested in vacant storefronts, and it's gone beyond that,” she said. “I do have kind of a problem with the subjective nature of some of the descriptors in it.”

The ordinance isn’t designed to penalize businesses, City Manager Matthew Chidester said, but to give the city enforcement options for the small number of storefronts that may be contributing to a neglected aesthetic downtown or in other areas.

“This is not about the 90% of our property owners, the 90% of our businesses,” he said. “This is about the outliers that have been ongoing, egregious issues for us.”

Half Moon Bay’s Chamber of Commerce is in favor of the ordinance, CEO Krystlyn Geed said in an email.

“We’ve been asking for a blight-related ordinance since 2019,” she said. “This ordinance is needed to give the city the ability to step in when properties are long neglected and deteriorate to the point of becoming unsafe. Protecting the character of our beloved town is a high priority.”

The ordinance will be brought back during an upcoming December meeting, Chidester said. As it progresses through the City Council process, Councilmember Paul Nagengast said it would be important to alert as many business and property owners as possible about the upcoming regulations.

Equally important will be ensuring that the ordinance doesn’t overstandardize Half Moon Bay or stymie its uniqueness, he said.

“It’s our character that makes it attractive for folks to come here, we’re not just the beach, we’re a whole other community here,” Nagengast said. “I’m also a little uncomfortable that all the businesses realize what's happening here.”

The city can provide examples to businesses to show that the standards weren’t designed to infringe on their individual, distinct designs, Chidester said, though Mayor Robert Brownstone also expressed similar concerns.

“There’s a fine line between over-regulating and creativity, and everything having to look the same — we like this small-town feel,” he said. “What does it mean? A lot of it is some individuality.”