The owners of the former Beachside Bar & Grill have won approval to transform their partially demolished structure on South Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas into a two-story restaurant.
“We’re really excited to start this — I know it’s been a horror for everyone,” co-owner Darrin Campbell told the Planning Commission Thursday.
Initially, they proposed creating a simpler, single-story project in 2021, but they have now upgraded those plans to a two-story structure with outdoor dining on both levels. On Thursday, the Planning Commission voted 4-0, with Commissioner Brent Whitteker absent, to approve the coastal development and design review permits the revised project will need. The projects do not require a City Council hearing.
“I think in terms of design, it’s a huge improvement” over the site’s older buildings, Commissioner Susan Sherod said before Thursday’s vote.
Located on the southwest corner of South Coast Highway 101 and G Street in downtown Encinitas, the existing structures predate the city’s incorporation in 1986. Before being known as Named Beachside Grill, the restaurant was previously called Bella Rosa Trattoria, and before that it was Rosanna’s Italian Market, city records show.
The latest renovation plans call for the addition of a second floor that would contain a 1,450-square-foot outdoor dining area, as well as 2,225 square feet of office space. The restaurant’s indoor dining room will be on the first floor, and the first floor will also have two outdoor dining terraces. Live amplified music is planned, but dancing is prohibited under state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board regulations.
At Thursday’s meeting, commissioners questioned whether amplified live music could create a noise nuisance. The city’s lead planner, Christina Margarita Bustamante, told commissioners that the developers’ plans call for the music to be played on a small stage in the center of the indoor dining area and that several barriers would keep out the sound.
Campbell, who also owns Le Papagayo restaurants in Leucadia and Carlsbad, told commissioners his renovated restaurant will have the same amplified music policy as his other operations. When musicians perform at Papagayo, they must plug into the restaurant’s sound system, which has small speakers in different locations. They can’t use their own amplifiers and must monitor the decibel meter near the stage to make sure they don’t get too loud, he said.
“We’re focused on (being) a restaurant, we’re not a music hall,” he said.
Bustamante told commissioners that when the restaurant was previously in operation, there had been no noise violations. No one in the public expressed concerns about the renovation project, either at the community meeting required by the developers on May 6 or at Thursday’s planning commission meeting.
The renovated restaurant won’t be the only restaurant on Coast Highway 101 with a second-floor dining room, Bustamante said in response to questions from commissioners. There are many, including Ki’s in Cardiff and Pannikin in Leucadia, she noted. Even the Leucadia pizzeria, at the entrance to the city center, has a second floor. The restaurant is not currently using that space, but an application is in the works for another restaurant to open there, she said.
