DELRAY BEACH — Has the proliferation of restaurants in downtown Delray Beach gotten out of control? Some business leaders think it has, and they want City Hall to step in and slow it down.

The Downtown Development Authority has asked the city to find ways to curtail restaurant growth to protect the balance between retail stores and the eateries that have made Atlantic Avenue so popular.

That might be through changing zoning laws, according to the DDA, a taxing authority.

The authority says too many more restaurants — there currently are 80 on Atlantic Avenue — could create parking issues and throw off the balance between restaurants and retail stores.

The Downtown Development Authority wants the city to pay attention to the long-term effect, authority Executive Director Marjorie Ferrer said.

Too many restaurants could create the need for more trash bins and cleaning crews. It could create more traffic and eliminate the main attraction of Atlantic Avenue: the small-town, main street feel of being able to shop, eat, get dessert and a haircut all in the same five blocks.

The idea is to modify some of the incentives the city now offers new restaurants — such as allowing them to pay cash instead of providing sufficient parking — that were designed to bring restaurants to Atlantic Avenue before the street began to thrive, and when boarded-up storefronts made up most of the two-mile stretch.

“It’s balanced now, but it needs help to stay balanced,” said David Cook, owner of Hand’s Art Supply store, which has been on Atlantic for 77 years. “There has to be a mix to make it all work. People don’t come just to shop, and people don’t come just to eat.”

Cook and others say that it is important to help retailers stay on Atlantic Avenue and discourage would-be restaurateurs from converting retail space into eateries.

“Once retail goes to restaurant, it never goes back,” said Fran Marincola, chairman of the DDA and owner of Café Luna Rosa on the beach, just off Atlantic Avenue. Once a retail business such as a shoe store has been converted to a restaurant, it is very expensive to remove restaurant equipment to turn it back into a store, he said.

Tom Prakas, a restaurant broker familiar with Atlantic Avenue, said the city shouldn’t interfere with free enterprise. As a broker, Prakas deals mostly with restaurant locations, making deals for the sale or lease of the property from restaurant owners and operators.

“It’s almost like saying we’re so successful we want to stop it,” said Prakas, who has handled 26 restaurants on Atlantic, including Vic and Angelo’s, Johnny Brown’s and City Oyster. “No city agency should restrict the growth of anything. The restaurants are what made Delray Beach.”

Prakas said a restaurant employs an average of 50 people, while a retail store may only employ five or six.

“What would you rather have? A restaurant grossing $4 million a year or a store grossing $600,000?” Prakas said.

There are no numbers available for how many people visit the downtown on a typical week, according to the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce, but last year the DDA calculated the downtown area generated $190 million in sales.

Ferrer said that when she began working to promote the city’s downtown in 1993, the priority, after creating special events, was to attract restaurants to provide foot traffic to the few art galleries that already existed.

But, she said, there must be a balance, because while restaurants are important and attract patrons, downtown visitors may eat dinner once, but they may shop up to 12 times on the same evening and come back to shop some more.

She said the independent and unique nature of the retailers on Atlantic Avenue is what attracts people searching for a different shopping experience.

Butch Johnson, an Atlantic Avenue landlord and owner of restaurant 32 East, said that making it harder or more expensive for restaurants to set up shop would be ineffective.

“There are [restaurateurs] who would just pay the [extra] money to come in,” he said. “What you have to do is make sure everyone is playing on an even field.”

Johnson said the city should be enforcing the laws it has on the books: noise ordinances, helping the state keep restaurants and bars in compliance with alcohol and tobacco regulations, keeping sidewalk cafes within their boundaries and shutting down bars at 2 a.m.

Meanwhile, the Planning and Zoning Department is trying to follow the DDA’s recommendations using a 2005 study. It said the city should encourage more retail in some clusters along Atlantic, such as between Swinton and Fifth avenues.

That stretch, the study said, has the highest concentration of restaurants and ideally the block should include apparel retailers, more art galleries, craft studios and gift retailers.

Once the Planning and Zoning Board makes recommendations, the City Commission would have final say on the new rules.

City Commissioner Adam Frankel said he worries that a high concentration of restaurants between Swinton and Southwest Fifth avenues will not only hurt retailers, but crowd the sidewalk with outdoor cafes.

“It’s an issue that keeps getting ignored,” Frankel said. “I believe I should be able to walk down the street without having to maneuver between tables and servers and patrons.”

By MARIA HERRERA

Sun-Sentinel