Hawleyville Restaurant —

P&Z Approves Proposal For Patio at Pizzeria

By Andrew Gorosko

A pizzeria planned for a commercial building at 23 Barnabas Road in Hawleyville has gained Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approval to construct a patio for its patrons’ outdoor dining.

P&Z members on February 18 unanimously approved an application from Papa Al’s, LLC, to construct a 324-square-foot dining patio made of pavers adjacent to the restaurant. The eatery will do business in a new commercial building at the southern intersection of Barnabas Road and Hawleyville Road (Route 25).

In a motion to approve patio construction, P&Z members required that no food items or food-related items be stored on the patio. They also required that waste receptacles with flap-type lids be positioned outdoors at the patio.

P&Z members decided that adding a patio adjacent to the restaurant is consistent with the terms of the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development.

They also decided that the presence of a dining patio is consistent with the requirements of the Hawleyville Center Design District (HCDD) zone in which the site is located.

The restaurant, which is scheduled to open soon, is in the northernmost space of a 7,500-square-foot commercial building. The P&Z approved the building’s construction in April 2007. A package store currently does business in the building. The Hawleyville Post Office plans to relocate there, as does another restaurant.

The patio for Papa Al’s would be built on a lawn that is adjacent to the walkway in front of the restaurant.

At a February 4 public hearing on the patio construction application, residents Carol and Don Hutchins of the nearby 58 Barnabas Road raised certain issues about the pizzeria’s operations.

Discussion focused on whether restaurants are permitted in areas served by septic systems, whether there would be sufficient parking at the commercial building considering the presence of a dining patio, whether alcohol would be consumed at the restaurant, and how late the restaurant would stay open for business.

George Benson, town director of land use and planning, said February 18 that the site holds sufficient parking spaces to accommodate restaurant patrons who use a patio. The commercial building has parking spaces for about 37 vehicles.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean noted that there is a large commuter parking lot located across Barnabas Road from the restaurant site. That parking lot has many vehicle spaces available in the nighttime, she said. P&Z members considered the presence of that commuter parking lot and the availability of parking spaces there when they reviewed the proposal for the commercial building in 2007, she said.

Mr Benson said his research indicates that there is no prohibition preventing Papa Al’s patrons from consuming alcohol inside the restaurant or on the restaurant’s patio on a “bring your own bottle” (BYOB) basis. The restaurant does not plan to sell alcohol.

The restaurant, whose menu would center on pizza, pasta, and submarine sandwiches, would have 24 seats indoors and 20 seats on the patio.

In a memo to the P&Z, Mr Benson noted that the P&Z’s 2007 approval of the commercial building did not prohibit restaurants from doing business there.

Ms Dean said that the septic waste disposal system that was installed for the commercial building is sized large enough to allow for the presence of restaurants. Restaurants are heavy water users and thus need considerable septic waste disposal capacity to do business.

Mr Benson said that the other restaurant that would do business at the commercial building would be a food takeout business and would have only four seats indoors.

The general retail building developed by Hawleyvlle Development, LLC, is on a 1.5-acre triangular lot on hilly terrain bounded on the west by Hawleyville Road, on the north and the east by Barnabas Road, and on the south and the east by westbound Interstate 84’s Exit 9 ramps.