10/20/2021
It's official......our challenge has come to an end. Monterey Park is standing by their decision and not allowing us to operate in the new space.
We had several emails and phone conversations with various people in City Planning and Economic Development over the past 3 weeks, and yesterday we spoke to the Economic Development Manager. Principally, his job is to attract new businesses to the city, so we were encouraged that he would be helping us to find a workable solution to our situation.
After answering his questions, he said that he would look at the existing zoning and send us more info, and that he believed we would fit into the zoning under ‘specialty retail’, so we felt that finally we would get clearance for a city license.
It didn’t take long for him to respond by email, maybe 10 minutes.
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Quote:
Steven,
"It was a pleasure speaking with you – and thank you for your interest in locating your business in Monterey Park.
As discussed, 2530 Corporate Place is in a Shopping Center (S-C) zone, which expressly prohibits an art gallery (see attached Permitted Use chart and Zoning Map).
However, art supply stores and specialty stores are allowed in a Shopping Center zone. Art supply stores retail art products, ranging from paints and brushes to easels and canvases, to the general public. A specialty store is an establishment that sells art supplies, specifically for professional artists, art students, and art hobbyists. The City will consider reviewing your business license application for 2530 Corporate Place should your establishment meet either of these descriptions.
An art gallery, on the other hand, by definition is a room, building, or space for the exhibition of art, primarily concerned with providing a space to show works of visual art and sometimes used to host other artistic activities. In addition, art galleries have multiple roles, such as incubating and supporting their artists, which, as you mentioned, is how your artists consider your gallery to be for them. Therefore, this description does not conform to the description for permitted use in a Shopping Center zone".
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So, if we sell paints, brushes, and canvas, but if we have a relationship with the artists, that support and nurture their efforts.....it's not allowed. WOW!
At no time, has anyone in Monterey Park government, directly answered why an ‘art gallery’ is not allowed. Under Shopping Center (S-C) zone, in the same location....we could open a jewelry store, bakery, art supply store...etc, but an art gallery is specifically singled out as ‘non-permissible’.
Over the past three weeks we have patiently tried to work within the framework of the City of Monterey Park, but nothing we could do would change their initial ruling.
True, the City could point to the zoning code and that’s a legitimate argument, but the city also has the ability/discretion, to issue a ‘conditional use permit’, but unfortunately that was never offered to us.
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To say that we’re disappointment is an understatement...... : (
Through the pandemic we have patiently waited for things to open up and after looking for months for the ‘right space’, we were excited to find a location in Monterey Park, and we were eagerly looking forward to reopening in November.
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Our struggle with the City has come to an end. Dan and I need to regroup and begin the battle to invalidate our 3 year lease, a lease that we entered into with the ‘best of intentions and full disclosure – complete with pictures from our last location’ so the leasing agent knew from the onset, what our business was about.
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At this point...we don’t know when, or if, our gallery will reopen again. We have already invested considerably to lease the building, and if we need to hire legal council too to help us break the lease, we will need to pause and carefully consider our options, before we begin looking for a new space again.
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As always, Thank you....for your continued support, comments, and private messages. It has been of great comfort to us.
We ask you to please keep us in your thoughts, as we try to find ourselves clear of this situation.
Steven & Dan
