A now-vacant, but once-popular pizza spot is about to be reborn as a Hawaiian-themed restaurant with indoor and outdoor family game areas.
On Thursday, the Encinitas Planning Commission voted 4-0, with Commissioner Robert Prendergast absent, to approve various permits for the project. They said the proposal would likely be a hit with the community.
“Generally speaking, I’m excited to see something go into this spot,” Commissioner Chris Ryan said.
Commissioner Brent Whitteker agreed, calling the proposed location at 481 Santa Fe Drive across the street from Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas a “nice cornerstone of our community.”
And Commissioner Susan Sherod said the restaurant’s design was “delightful.”
Put forward by former Hawaiian resident Benji Weatherley, the proposal calls for turning what’s most recently been called the Schooner Station Pizzeria & Sports Pub into what will be the Breakers Cafe Bar & Grill. Planning commissioners approved requests for minor use, design review and coastal development permits for the project, and backed a request for an alcohol service license.
The various permitting and licensing documents will allow the future restaurant to offer live music indoors, and grant its developers the ability to renovate the building’s exterior, expand the outdoor patio dining area and “refresh” the landscaping around the structure.
Marcela Escobar, the president and chief executive officer of Atlantis Land Use Consultants, told commissioners that the project will be an “amazing Hawaiian concept” restaurant with island-themed, live music and vintage signs from Encinitas locations.
Mentioning that she frequents Scripps hospital across the street, Escobar added, “It’ll be nice to have some options other than cafeteria food in that area.”
A city staff report on the restaurant project indicates that the live music will include performances by area musicians, and the family game options will include Sunday night bingo, trivia nights, dartboards, horseshoes, corn hole games and other activities.
Commissioners said the proposal reminded them of the long ago days when the restaurant site was home first to a Straw Hat Pizza and later to a Pizza Hut. Ryan said she remembers it being a “happy family place” where youth sports teams gathered after games.
At the start of the hearing on the item, commission Chair Steve Dalton said he lived near the project site — more than a 500-foot radius away, but less than 1,000 feet — but said that the city attorney’s office had determined that his home location did not “trigger a conflict on my part” and he participated in the debate on the item.
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