The 2003 intrusion of the former Florentine businesses on approximately 320 square feet of public sidewalk on East Commonwealth Ave at Harbor Blvd. that has rankled many Fullerton citizens will be on the May 3 City Council closed session agenda. In February this year, the Planning Commission unanimously agreed to request that the City Council order the restoration of the public space. The issue was on the April 5 City Council agenda as item15, “Restoration of Public Right of Way at Harbor and Commonwealth and Termination of Encroachment at 100 North Harbor.” Mayor Fred Jung announced it would be continued.
However, it was referred to City Attorney Richard D. Jones, who said at the April 19 Council meeting, “We received direction from the City Council” regarding that issue. Jones, responding to a later email query from The Observer, said that interim City Manager Jeff Collier is conducting discussions with the property owner. He said Collier had conveyed that City Council direction to the lawyer for the new owner of the property, Mario Marovic.
“The attorney has indicated that he would respond, and his response is now due,” Jones said. “Discussion was based on potential litigation based on [the] property owner’s position.”
Mr. Collier confirmed in an email that Marovic’s attorney was invited to send any proposals he may want to have considered by the City Council. “He has since sent a letter to the City Attorney and this letter will be communicated to Council in closed session at the May 3 meeting,” Collier said.
Marovic did not respond to inquiry regarding the status of the discussions.
Construction continues on the encroachment, as this May 2 photo shows.
In a previous interview, Marovic said he would not go forward with the outdoor dining in the pedestrian walkway behind his building. “The cost is prohibitive,” he said. The outdoor dining had been approved in an “administrative zoning” hearing in the City Economic and Community Development Department in August 2021.
Those wishing to speak about this agenda item may address City Council before they go into their 4pm May 3 closed session meeting, in person or via Zoom. 303 W. Commonwealth Ave. For information on how to participate, view the agenda at https://fullerton.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.
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Categories: Local News
Mario lives in Corona Del Mar. He owns 20 other bars before establishing two more in the former Florentine folly. The Register referred to him as the Bar Czar of Orange County.
The city of Fullerton owns the bump clearly, and at a rent of 22 cents per square foot. The city, and it’s citizens, are not getting much value and the new owner Mario Marovic probably doesn’t even live in Fullerton.
It’s got to go. The encroachment was born out of incompetence and fraud. It was wrong 20 years ago and it’s still wrong. It looks like Marovic has already been working on the offending structure. How and why was that permitted to happen without City approval. C’mon Dick, come clean (for once). WHO OWNS THE “BUMP OUT”?