Does the Buena Park Mall have enough parking for retail and residents?
- Share via
Big changes are coming to the Buena Park Mall, including 1,300 residential units approved by city officials last year to replace its long-abandoned Sears building. Construction for the Village at Buena Park, the incoming housing development, is slated to begin this summer.
In May, Buena Park’s planning commission unanimously approved a permit for a year-round Halloween entertainment attraction at the mall.
The proposed business would include seasonal mazes, classic horror-themed movie theaters and escape rooms in a city that bills itself as “Boo-ena Park” every October thanks to Knott’s Scary Farm.
But the Halloween attraction has already provided a scare over parking at the mall.
The Asian-centric entertainment and dining destination offers a unique concentration of Korean culture just a few miles away from Buena Park’s newly named Koreatown.
John Parlet, owner of John’s Incredible Pizza Co., which offers family-friendly buffets, rides and games, appealed the planning commission’s decision last month.
Parlet pointed to a parking study for the Village at Buena Park that found available parking spaces will be cut in half by the development, a point of contention he said should have been considered at the planning commission meeting before the permit was approved.
“The grossly inadequate parking at the Mall is not offset by any benefit to the public and is a major detriment to the community,” the appeal claimed.
During the planning commission meeting, Robert Luther, co-owner of the proposed Halloween attraction, had agreed to have future employees park further away from John’s Incredible Pizza Co., which has been a mall tenant since 2007.
But that didn’t prove convincing enough to stop Parlet from filing his appeal.
On its opening weekend, Gudetama Cafe in Buena Park drew customers who waited as long as 12 to 16 hours to enter the restaurant based on Sanrio’s lazy-egg character.
City Council members considered the appeal on Tuesday during a public hearing as flagging malls across Orange County have moved to incorporate housing into their future development plans.
City staff’s position was that no additional parking was needed due to the operating hours of Luther’s proposed business and state law that bans cities from imposing a minimum parking requirement on most development projects located within half a mile of a public transit.
A staff report noted that there will be surplus parking within the Village at Buena Park and that 511 spaces are going to be shared between residents and commercial businesses as part of the development plan.
The report further stated that the parking study assumed 100% tenancy at the mall, as opposed to the 65% occupancy rate it currently has.
Luther addressed council members at the meeting in making the case for his business, again.
“We are actually somewhat of an ideal tenant for this space in regards to parking as it might affect John’s Incredible Pizza,” he said. “We don’t even open until 7 p.m. By then, half the tenants of the mall or more are already closed.”
The mall closes daily at 8 p.m. John’s Incredible Pizza Co. closes every night at 10:30 p.m.
James Bastain, an attorney for the pizza company, claimed that future parking problems could cost the business as much as $2 million in profits, a drop that would force it to close down.
“There’s no way that [the mall is] going to be able to attract new tenants if they don’t have adequate parking,” he said. “We need to revisit the parking issue and, hopefully, come up with a solution that can allow my client and the other tenants to stay in business.”
In an area where there is little undeveloped land and neighbors are likely to push back at new housing, some see the declining malls as ideal places to build.
Vice Mayor Joyce Ahn suggested that city staff speak with the mall’s ownership about building public parking to get ahead of any potential issues with its mixed-use future.
For Councilman Connor Traut, the approval of a permit for Luther’s proposed Halloween attraction at the mall wasn’t the proper forum to revisit council’s prior approval of the Village at Buena Park.
“I don’t really see [parking] as a concern due to the 7 p.m. open time,” Traut said. “There is a benefit to the public. It benefits … surrounding businesses, not just [with] tax dollars but really bringing in foot traffic, as well.”
Mayor Susan Sonne believed that Parlet’s appeal wasn’t so much about the planning commission’s vote but City Council’s prior approval of housing at the mall. She welcomed a future discussion on John’s Incredible Pizza Co.’s concerns at a later date.
At the end of the hearing, council members voted unanimously to deny Parlet’s appeal and uphold the approved permit for Luther’s proposed business.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
