'The Cage' Owner Protests Approval of New Batting Cage Business in Los Alamitos

The owner of an existing Los Alamitos batting cage business is appealing the permit approval of a new batting cage facility that will be located in the Reagan Business Center.

Owners of the new business, Xcel Baseball, recently received approval from the city's planning commission to build indoor batting cages in a 8,800 square foot space located in a light industrial area near Los Alamitos High School.

However, Scott Stirton, who owns The Cage batting cage facility has appealed Xcel's permit approval and will take it up with the City Council Monday night.

Among the issues raised in Stirton's appeal are claims of inadequate parking, incompatibility with the industrial space and traffic problems. Stirton requested that the City Council overturn Xcel's permit and not allow any kind of recreational use in Xcel's proposed business space.

One of Stirton's biggest complaints was that Xcel's 18 parking spaces will be "grossly inadequate" for the business and won't accommodate special events or multiple private lessons at the batting cages.

Despite Stirton's complaints though, city staff said in a report that Xcel is providing more parking spaces than required, won't significantly impact traffic in the area and is compatible with the light industrial area.

Among its many findings, city staff also pointed out that Stirton's own batting cage business provides a similar amount of parking spaces without any issues.

"With regard to the issues raised by the Appellant, staff has determined that 18 spaces constitutes sufficient parking, especially in light of the fact that Appellant's similar business has only 15 spaces and there have not been parking problems."

City staff recommended that the City Council deny Stirton's appeal and approve Xcel's permit for its batting cage facility.

If given a final approval Monday, Xcel Baseball will include seven indoor batting cages, private lessons and a retail space selling baseball merchandise. Proposed hours are from 2:30-9 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on weekends.