Rezoning could bring end to alley

The Lompoc Planning Commission tonight will toss either a gutter ball or a strike, depending on whether you want Ocean Lanes Bowling and Family Entertainment Center to survive.

Scheduled for consideration by the commission is a plan to rezone the land, raze the bowling alley and replace it with 80 senior apartment units in a two-story building, 12,550 square feet of commercial office space, and 4,170 square feet of commercial retail and/or restaurant space.

The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Plaza.

Michael Letzt of BJ Gunner Investments in Scottsdale, Ariz., has proposed the project on two adjacent parcels at 1420 E. Ocean Ave., which would require the subdivision of the 2.69-acre site to create six commercial condominiums and one residential condo, according to city staff. A General Plan amendment would be needed to change the land designation from general commercial to office commercial.

Letzt, whose purchase of the property is contingent upon city approval of his project, also has asked for a “density bonus,” which would allow the number of senior units at 37 percent greater density than that allowed in a high-density residential district.

The Planning Commission will consider a recommendation regarding that issue to send to the City Council, which has final approval on zoning changes and the General Plan amendment.

Already, some efforts have been made to preserve the bowling alley, which was built in the 1960s. The property includes 24 lanes, a restaurant, bar, banquet room and separate tenant space.

Newly appointed Planning Commissioner Frank Hain said he will recuse himself from voting on the project because he had earlier shown an interest in acquiring and preserving the bowling alley. He no longer is pursuing that possibility, Hain said Tuesday.

Karl Corser, the bowling columnist of the Lompoc Record, said the building has not been well maintained, and that the popular pastime has lost many participants in the past few years because of the decline in league bowling, but that the community still needs it for recreation.

“We need the bowling alley,” Corser said. “If the bowling alley is torn down, nobody is going to replace it.”

To build a bowling alley would cost as much as $9 million, he said. “And where would you put it?”

Robert Todd, who leases the property and owns the bowling alley, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December; he was $400,000 in debt.

Todd said at the time that he intended to reorganize and save the business. However, property owner Bruno Bornino of Arroyo Grande said Todd defaulted on his lease by filing bankruptcy because the lease requires Todd to pay maintenance, taxes and insurance for the property.

Todd said Tuesday he still wants to save his business. He said Ocean Lanes' business dropped off considerably after the developer's plans became public in 2007.

Ocean Lanes replaced Lompoc's first bowling alley, which now houses the Sleep Shop, 137 South H Street. That building, which had six lanes, was built on the site that once held the popular Opera House. The Opera House, which was built in 1890 and was the city's cultural centerpiece for half a century, was torn down in 1940.

Bo Poertner can be reached at

737-1053 or bpoertner@santamariatimes.com.

March 12, 2008