Panel Recommends to Keep Sidewalk Display Rules

The Hermosa Beach Planning Commission in a meeting Tuesday night continued its discussion on possible rules surrounding what downtown merchants can place on sidewalks outside of their shops.

• Earlier: Panel to Revisit Sidewalk Displays Debate

With Commissioner Kent Allen absent, the panel unanimously agreed to recommend that the City Council retain existing policy of not allowing outdoor retail displays and portable signs on the public right-of-way space.

"We’re not making something more restrictive or doing something unusual. We’re rather maintaining exactly what we’ve always had and proposing to continue what we always had," said Commissioner Peter Hoffman, who made the motion to vote, during Tuesday's meeting.

He also pointed out that some of the displays and other items now seen along sidewalks downtown "are not permitted."

Chairman Sam Perrotti said in the meeting that he foresaw enforcement being a problem with monitoring displays that are not permitted, but some of his fellow commissioners mentioned the business community often self-regulates.

"We can't enforce this," Hoffman agreed. "But if we say it is legal, then everybody's going to say, 'OK I'm going to have a sign out there,' and they'll put it wherever they want and there will be no enforcement on it."

A focus on encroachments placed along downtown sidewalks reemerged last year when city officials launched a Clean Sweep campaign, cracking down on business owners who illegally placed displays outside of their stores, such as clothing racks or signs.

"This subject, for most people, isn’t a critical thing, but it’s a thing about cosmetics and what our city’s going to look like," said Vice Chairman Ron Pizer during the Planning Commission's recent meeting in January.

In that same January meeting, the panel also discussed outdoor dining—a deliberation that continued Tuesday night. The commission decided to revisit that discussion again in its next meeting, when a full panel would be present.