Submitted By: Planning Division
Prepared By: Jonathan Lightfoot, City Planner
Subject:
title
REVIEW OF THE CARS AND COFFEE EVENT, AN APPROVED WEEKLY EVENT UNDER CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT 22-328, FOR PERMITTED EVENTS AT THE OUTLETS AT SAN CLEMENTE, AND CONSIDERATION TO INITIATE A PUBLIC HEARING PURSUANT TO SAN CLEMENTE MUNICIPAL CODE SECTION 17.12.175 - CITY INITIATED CHANGES OR REVOCATION OF APPROVED APPLICATIONS
body
Fiscal Impact:
There is no fiscal impact to receive and file this report. However, should the City Council direct staff to initiate a public hearing pursuant to San Clemente Municipal Code Section 17.12.175 - City Initiated Changes or Revocation of Approved Applications, staff anticipates an approximate cost of $5,000 for the staff time and related costs to prepare and conduct such a hearing.
Summary:
On September 16, 2025, the City Council requested a future agenda item to review the operations of the weekly Cars and Coffee events hosted at the Outlets at San Clemente (“Outlets”) every Saturday. The Outlets have operated special events under Conditional Use Permit (CUP) 16-349 since January 2018, authorizing a range of outdoor events. Following community complaints related to vehicle noise and traffic associated with the Cars and Coffee event between 2020-2021, the Planning Commission approved an amendment to the CUP in December 2022 (Resolution PC 22-031, provided as Attachment 1). The amendment permitted weekly car shows, while adding new conditions of approval to address parking, noise, and public safety concerns.
Since adoption of the amended CUP, there has been compliance with the specified conditions. The event operators have implemented an on-site sign program, established an online feedback system, and provided logs of public correspondence as required. However, due to complaints regarding off-site speeding or vehicle noise, the Orange County Sheriff Department (OCSD) and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) have conducted targeted enforcement operations at and around the event, resulting in citations, vehicle impoundments and arrests for off-site violations.
The City Council may choose to initiate a public hearing to consider modification or revocation of the CUP under SCMC Section 17.12.175, request additional information, or receive and file this report.
Background:
The Outlets opened in November of 2015 and gradually introduced special events to its programming. On April 5, 2017, the Zoning Administrator granted Special Activities Permit (SAP) No. 17-066 to allow 14 special activities to take place in 2017. In 2017, the Outlets also applied for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP 16-349) to allow for a variety of recurring outdoor events. The Planning Commission approved the CUP on January 17, 2018, which authorized a range of public, promotional and community events.
The 2018-approved program includes three levels of outdoor events, categorized as Lowers, Middles and Uppers Events. Lowers are smaller events and would include weekend entertainers, solo musicians and crafting projects for children. These events would take place the most often. Middles is a category of events that includes the Easter Celebration, Fiesta De Mayo, job fairs, the Menorah Lighting, and a car show. The largest events that would take place are the Uppers. Examples of this type of event would be the Annual Tree Lighting, Shopping Extravaganza Fundraiser and Barks and Brews. Most events would take place in the interior courtyards of the outlets. The staff report for CUP 16-349 is available online.
Staff provided a one-year status update to the Commission in January of 2019, which indicated that staff, the OCSD and Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) had no significant calls for service related to these events.
However, between 2020-2021, Code Compliance received 17 complaints related to operations of the Cars and Coffee events at the Outlets. City management contacted the Outlets management and the event organizers to address the repeated complaints, and the Outlets ultimately submitted an application to amend CUP 16-349. The Planning Commission approved the amendment on December 7, 2022 via Resolution PC 22-031 (Attachment 1) which augmented the CUP to allow for a weekly car show, holiday events in partnership with religious or non-profit groups, and bi-weekly food distribution events. These events were subject to additional conditions of approval, and conditions related to the Cars and Coffee events are addressed by Condition of Approval No. 53 (refer to Exhibit A of Attachment 1).
One component of Condition 53 (b) was an on-site sign program providing both directional signs and “rules” of the event. Another component, (i), required an email contact on their website to receive feedback; and also a requirement that a log of responses should be made available to City staff. Figures 1 and 2 below demonstrate compliance with these referenced conditions, and the event operator (Simon and James Wehr) provided the log of emailed correspondence through their website, www.southoccarsandcoffee.com <http://www.southoccarsandcoffee.com> (Attachment 3), which includes five email interactions between January 2023 to present.
[Continued on next page]
Figure 1: Excerpt from Event Website
Figure 2: Google Review Image Dated 10/2/2025
Since the Amended CUP went into effect in December of 2022, Code Compliance has received 4 complaints. Three of the four complaints centered around speed or noise of vehicles on public streets, and one complaint was about overflow parking in the residential neighborhood (Sea Summit) across from the Outlets. Each of these complaints was referred to OCSD.
OCSD regularly patrols the event. Deputies are not always available to remain on site or adjacent, but OCSD confirmed that on every Saturday in 2025, one or more sheriff deputies came to the event during their patrol. OCSD received two calls for service from Outlets Security in 2025: one for a physical altercation near Rockwell’s Bakery in January; and one for a Corvette speeding within the parking lot area.
Both OCSD and CHP have done targeted enforcement recently as well, with CHP conducting an operation in March of 2025 and OCSD conducting an operation in May. The enforcement actions from those operations are detailed in the following table:
Table 1: 2025 Police Enforcement
|
Action |
CHP: March 2025 |
OCSD: May 2025 |
|
Enforcement contacts / Stops |
159 |
54 |
|
Citations |
121 |
56 |
|
Vehicles Towed |
N/A |
2 |
|
Verbal Warnings |
34 |
0 |
|
30-Day Vehicle Seizures |
5 |
N/A |
|
Total Arrests (Felonies) |
4 (3) |
N/A |
|
Pursuits |
2 |
N/A |
Discussion:
From a review of the Cars & Coffee operations, the event operators are abiding by the currently included conditions of approval. However, in review of the logs of code compliance and police complaints or calls for service, there is evidence of off-site vehicle code violations by some participants arriving to, or leaving from, the event. To address these impacts of the Cars and Coffee events, the City Council could initiate an action to modify or revoke the Conditional Use Permit at a noticed public hearing in accordance with SCMC Section 17.12.175.
At such a public hearing, the City Council would need to make one of the following findings in order to modify or revoke the Conditional Use Permit:
1. Conditions of approval of the approved application(s) are being violated or are not being satisfied.
2. The site or land use is being operated in a manner that constitutes a nuisance.
3. The application contained incorrect, false, or misleading information.
Based on the information contained in this report, it would be reasonable for the City Council to determine, at this time, that the operations of the Cars and Coffee events have generated a substantial number of complaints, and resulted in significant enforcement actions, and that a review of CUP 22-328, pursuant to SCMC Section 17.12.175, is warranted.
Council Options:
• Initiate a public hearing to modify or revoke the Conditional Use Permit at a noticed public hearing in accordance with San Clemente Municipal Code Section 17.12.175.
• Provide further direction to staff, such as requests for additional information.
• Receive and file the administrative report.
Environmental Review/Analysis:
The action to initiate a public hearing to modify or revoke a Conditional Use Permit, or to receive and file this report, is not a “project” under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Recommended Actions:
Staff Recommendation
recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council provide direction on whether it desires to initiate a public hearing to modify or revoke Conditional Use Permit 22-328 at a noticed public hearing in accordance with San Clemente Municipal Code Section 17.12.175.
end
Attachment:
1. Resolution 22-031
a. Exhibit A - Conditions of Approval
2. Minutes of the Planning Commission Meeting of December 7, 2022
3. Log of Comments Received through Cars & Coffee Website
4. Letter from Cars & Coffee Operators
Notification:
Outlets Management
Cars and Coffee Event Operators