By PAUL HUGHES
Orange County cities looking to spur development of urban downtowns can learn a thing or two from Fullerton.
In the past few years, Fullerton’s downtown on and around Harbor Boulevard has changed dramatically, with new apartments, shops, and, most notably, restaurants and bars.
Any night on the weekend,which in Fullerton starts on Thursday,downtown’s streets are lined with cars. The sidewalks are full of people who bar hop along Harbor Boulevard.
Many cities,including Anaheim, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and even Irvine,are hoping to create their own slice of what Fullerton has. The lure: locals and outsiders spending lots of money.
Fullerton is farther along than most other county cities in developing a downtown hub. It’s happened with special zoning for restaurants and by bringing people downtown via apartment developments.
Few can quarrel with the results,like many downtowns, Fullerton’s center was forsaken in the 1980s and early 1990s.
But some side effects of the city’s redevelopment are a source of grumbling.
And where to go from here is a point of debate, especially in an election year for the City Council.
With downtown’s boom have come some inevitable consequences,parking problems, trashed streets and higher police costs to patrol sometimes rowdy bars.
In the past several years, Fullerton has added several hundred downtown apartments and a couple dozen businesses, including many restaurants and bars.
That’s undeniably boosted economic activity,Thursday through Saturday nights, finding parking is an adventure worthy of J.R.R. Tolkien. Finding a table is a dragon’s treasure.
Condos
More development is on the way,including condominiums and more eateries.
That stands to bring more money to downtown, while likely raising costs for police monitoring of late night activity and for cleaning up after the crowds.
Some see condos as part of downtown’s maturation.
Soco Walk, under construction by Seal Beach-based Olson Co., is bringing 120 townhomes to downtown, next to Fullerton’s train station.
The project stretches downtown’s redevelopment southward. On one side is the train station, a gateway to downtown. On the other is older homes and apartments that are a hub for the city’s sizable Hispanic population.
Downtown’s boom is “a culmination of well over 30 years of effort by many people,” said Rob Zur Schmiede, Fullerton’s director of redevelopment and economic development.
The next big project: Amerige Court, a 132-unit condo and stores development that’s set to go before the City Council soon.
Amerige Court calls for a nine-story tower,which would be downtown’s tallest,plus a parking structure on what’s now a flat city parking lot.
“When we started looking at downtown, one thing clearly missing was people,” said Don Bankhead, who has served the city for nearly 50 years, first with the police and later on the council.
Other development is likely, including at a recently closed juice plant near the train station, at parking lots in front of the train station and possibly behind the Fox Theater, a former movie house that’s undergoing its own slow renovation.
‘New Urbanism’
The city has followed the “new urbanism” trend, according to Rob Ferrier, a redevelopment manager.
“It’s something for everyone,” he said.
There are critics.
Lawyer Doug Chaffee is running for a council seat in November’s election. He’s taken aim at downtown’s party culture, calling it unfriendly for families.
And some longtime business owners worry about the area’s big development projects.
“They’re going to dig a big hole right behind our store,” says Roger Palmateer, co-owner with wife Mo of Mo’s Fullerton Music Center, next to where Amerige Court is planned. “It’ll take two years to build.”
The head of the local preservation society, Tom Dalton, sees Amerige Court’s midrise tower as a break with the city’s tradition.
“Do nine stories now, it’ll be 12 stories next time,” said Dalton, president of Fullerton Heritage.
A smaller building became unfeasible after some businesses declined to sell to Amerige Court’s developer, according to city officials.
Huntington Beach-based Pelican Center LLC and John Laing Homes of Newport Beach are developing Amerige Court.
Bankhead said he understands the potential for inconvenience. A fund set up by the developer may allay some economic impact, he said, reimbursing retailers for lost revenue while Amerige Court is built.
The Fullerton Downtown Business Association backs Amerige Court. New stores and homeowners should benefit the area, according to the group.
Amerige Court, with its stores and homeowners, could help offset the impact of the bars and restaurants.
“Business draws business,” Mo Palmateer said. But “people who come to the bars don’t shop at our stores.”
Party Hangover
Some business owners go even further, saying bar crowds have led to broken windows, fights and more.
One observer described it as “urination, defecation, copulation and regurgitation.”
Councilman Bankhead said he believes the problem isn’t much different than 50 years ago when he started work with the Fullerton Police Department.
Those years for downtown were similar, though smaller in scope, he said.
When Bankhead joined the force in 1957, he said there were several downtown bars serving booze in front and holding backroom poker games, which were legal at the time.
“We had some problems, and law enforcement took care of it,” he said.
Today, “Those types of things have been reported, but I don’t believe it’s a large scale,” Bankhead said.
As problems occur and the population grows, “We increase the police,” he said.
“It’s not out of control,” said Senior Officer Garry Mancini, the department’s liaison for alcohol compliance. But “it’s an issue you don’t want to get out of hand.”
Downtown has 36 liquor licenses, double that of a few years ago, Mancini said. Guidelines from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control suggest four for this area, he said.
Statistics can mislead, though, since the state goes strictly on population, according to Mancini. The numbers include all businesses serving liquor,from small stores to family restaurants to bars.
“It’s not a big deal to have that many,” he said. “You have an area that’s growing and you want to improve an area, so the number goes up.”
Only three of the 36 are for bars that don’t serve food. Most of the others are restaurants that serve booze.
Still Mancini said, “You have to draw the line somewhere.”
More Cops
The city has added two beat cops to a nighttime shift in downtown, Mancini said. The cost is about $100,000 per officer, he said.
The city also has a state grant, given under a program to reduce the availability of alcohol to minors. Last year Fullerton got $80,000. This year it received $103,000.
Meanwhile, the city has spent more on maintenance. The Downtown Business Association pays someone to pick up trash on Monday mornings.
Preservationist Dalton said he wants a “vibrant downtown with a variety of businesses,” but right now there are too many restaurants and bars.
“Sure, there should be more shops,” he said. “It makes downtown more attractive and generates income. The more businesses downtown, the more I like it.”
More ‘Sophisticated’
Mayor Leland Wilson,two months shy of his 37th birthday,said he’d like to see more businesses geared toward his age group.
“It seems to be geared to the twentysomething crowd,” he said. “Something more mature and sophisticated would be nice.”
Downtown has its share of upscale restaurants, including Mulberry Street, Table Ten and The Cellar, one of the county’s top restaurants.
A dinner club would be nice, Wilson said.
More diverse projects may have to come from city land, he said.
“With most of the parcels being private property, as long as they’re within code they can do what they want. That’s the free market,” he said. “When the city owns the property, we have an opportunity to encourage more office and retail.”
Downtown redevelopment isn’t a major issue in the upcoming city elections, according to Wilson, who along with Bankhead is up for re-election.
It vies for attention with a big project in the city’s northern hills, Chevron Corp.’s West Coyote Hills housing project.
People are “generally OK with development downtown,” Wilson said.
Hughes is a freelance writer who lives in Orange.
