
The situation
My own concept and my own risk: an axe-throwing venue in the rear of a building my design-build company already used in Costa Mesa, in a category the city's code had never named.
No use category, so nothing to license; no local precedent a planner could cite; a car-repair shop sharing the lot and live-work lofts twenty-five feet from the wall.
A fact a planner could write under each finding the code requires: a live operation the city could inspect, then a packet built the way staff write findings.
Prove it first: open on parties and build the brand, then file with the venue as the evidence and go to the hearing myself; when COVID killed the close, keep AXT as a long-term play.
$88,998.95 of sales and $21,072.85 net in its first four months; Costa Mesa's first use permit for indoor axe throwing, November 14, 2019; a handshake sale the Friday before COVID; a long-term position today.
Read on
The decision and the reasoning
Why we did it this way, told first.
ReadWhat we did and what it produced
The work, decision by decision, and the result.
ReadA slice of the project list
A few related projects.
ReadPrivate side
The full report, the source files on record, the timeline and every figure with its source. Password.
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