License to Chill

City Board Challenges Espanola Way Area Alcohol Restrictions

By Lee Molloy

It’s not hard to find a place on Espanola Way to take the weight off and enjoy a margarita; or have a cocktail at nearby Jazid, a cold beer with dinner at Sum Yum Gai, or perhaps a glass of wine at one of the many other restaurants and cafés in the vicinity.

Every one of those establishments, however, had to be granted a hardship variance by the Board of Adjustment (BOA) because city code doesn’t allow the sale of alcohol within 300 feet of an educational facility. In the case of the aforementioned area, Fisher-Feinberg Elementary School at 1420 Washington Avenue prohibits the practice.

So, when two new businesses came before the BOA June 5 to ask for the same variance it might seem like a no-brainer that the restaurant owners would walk away happy - well, apparently not.

Vice Chairman David Lancz chaired the five-member meeting in Chairman Larry Herrup’s absence (he’s on vacation), which meant that the board would have to unanimously pass any motion to take action on it.

Hospitality Ventures Inc, the owners of the site of the former Rancho Argentino restaurant at 1415 Washington Avenue, had previously been granted a variance to sell alcohol, and came back before the board on behalf of planned new restaurant, Friday.

Planning and Zoning Manager Richard Lorber explained that there had been “a couple of dozen” variances granted between the 1300 and 1500 block in the past, and staff recommended the granting of the new restaurant’s variance to the board.

“I don’t understand why we have the ordinance,” Sherry Roberts, BOA member and candidate for Miami Beach Commissioner, said. “If staff is recommending to us that we always approve these, it’s like, why are we wasting our time? Either we are going to obey the ordinance or we’re not.”

BOA member Alex Annunziato questioned the logic behind having the ordinance at all.

“I think there’s an argument to be made that this rule is one of the rules that needs to be identified for revision,” Annunziato said. “There’s really no way that we can accurately and logically enforce it anymore.”

Assistant City Attorney Gary Held did not go so far as to agree that the law could not be enforced, but did opine that “clearly there has been a pattern established that this use has been permitted.”

Lobbyist and former Mayor of Miami Beach Harold Rosen made the argument that businesses must be allowed to do what is necessary to survive, and that Washington Avenue “is the engine that drives the beach.”

“These are very serious concerns for our hospitality industry,” David Kelsey, President of the South Beach Hotel and Restaurant Association said, adding that if there were no exceptions allowed at all, Espanola Way would be lost.

“Where the hardship lies is that everyone else is doing it, so he should do it,” Roberts said, asserting that by not allowing the variance, they were perhaps preventing new businesses from being competitive.

BOA member Lior Leser agreed.

“We created this hardship,” he said, “by allowing alcohol to be sold.”

However, Leser later questioned his own position. “I’ve heard the argument made many times before that our actions can harm the business engine here and I think it’s a completely false argument,” he said, pointing out that businesses could sell alcohol a couple of blocks away.

The board eventually voted to grant the variance, however, the owners of the former Rancho Argentino site can only sell alcohol after 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with no restrictions on the weekend.

A similar request from Mattarello Bakery & Café at 1450 Washington Ave. was heard. The bakery’s owners want to sell beer and wine along with food to their mostly lunchtime and early dinner customers.

However, even a letter from the Principal of Fisher-Feinberg saying that the sale of alcohol at the Café didn’t bother the school administration, didn’t sway the board — they granted Mattarello Bakery the same variance as to Hospitality Ventures.

Both establishments, however, were given permission to come back before the board at their July meeting and again plead the case for serving alcohol before 6 p.m.

Roberts asserted the board should address the problem the ordinance creates by bringing the issue to the City Commission, which would allow parents and citizens to have their say.

“We pass a resolution that says, OK commission, this is now yours,” Roberts said.

Annunziato drafted a resolution that requested the City of Miami Beach address the 300 feet distance minimum, and consider if abandoning the rule altogether is in order. Another option could be to make Washington Avenue and Espanola Way exempt from the ordinance.

“With regards to the area where these particular businesses are located,” BOA member Leonor Hernandez said. “I don’t see a problem.”

comments@theleadmiamibeach.com

Storefront Storage

Miami Beach Commission Considers Forcing Some Restaurants to Stow their Stuff

By Angie Hargot

Published June 11, 2009

At the June 3 commission meeting, the City of Miami Beach moved one step closer to passing an ordinance that would prohibit some restaurants from leaving their sidewalk tables, chairs and umbrellas out on Lincoln Road when not open for business.

Mayor Matti Bower sponsored the item which would set up ‘No Table Zones’ in an effort to keep Lincoln Road from looking like what she called a “storage” area for furniture.

However, Bower encountered some friction from business owners who say they just don’t have the space to bring the items in at closing time.

“I am against having chairs left over and having Lincoln road look like a food court,” Bower said.

Bower was concerned that the practice may set a precedent — in a faltering economy, more and more restaurants might close for lunch and leave their furniture outside.

Under the current Sidewalk Café Ordinance, if businesses are not open before 11 a.m., they have to clear their tables, chairs and umbrellas off of Lincoln Road.

Several are in violation, however.

Supporters of the measure that would quash a possible trend, were not unsympathetic to the struggles of small businesses: Bower sought to ‘grandfather’ in the handful of restaurants that currently struggle with a lack of space.

City Attorney Jose Smith, however, said that option would not be legally sound. 

“You cannot favor two restaurants and not the others,” Smith said.

Deputy City Attorney Raul Aguila agreed with Smith, adding that the city found four additional restaurants that would also be affected by the proposed ordinance. Aguila suggested crafting a more unilateral code.

One restaurant under scrutiny is Da Leo Trattoria, located at 819 Lincoln Road, which received a code compliance citation on May 27, building department records show.

“Not many restaurants are the size of Da Leo,” said attorney Michael Larkin, who represents the café and has been actively advocating city officials to come up with a policy that would solve the problem without inhibiting his Da Leo’s business. The cafe spans just 16 feet of ‘frontage,’ or actual store front space, along the busy thoroughfare.

Larkin also asserted the problem was unlikely to rage out of control — although Da Leo chooses to keep a focus on its dinner service, other establishments don’t follow the business model and so won’t likely close for lunch. Da Leo, he said, was not large enough to store their outdoor furniture inside during non-operating hours.

“Most of the restaurants on Lincoln Road need to open for lunch to survive,” Larkin said. “With their rents skyrocketing, they’re looking for any way to increase their revenue…the market will dictate that those restaurants that are open for lunch now are going to remain open.”

Commissioner Victor Diaz acknowledged that some businesses, while paying less in square footage for rent “circumvent the rules by having a tiny slice of a commercial space and take an enormous amount of space on Lincoln road.”

Focusing on the struggles of small businesses, Commissioner Jonah Wolfson also took issue with Bower’s characterization of Lincoln Road as a “food court,” a portrayal she later agreed was unfair. Wolfson warned against “too many restrictions in these economic times,” he said. “Things are tough out there. The concern is that we’re going to over-legislate.”

Diaz, however, disagreed with Wolfson’s assertions that the proposed code could exacerbate the economic trials of local businesses, maintaining that the measure wasn’t “anti-business,” but a “long-term overall sustainable economic development vision,” Diaz said.

Commissioner Deede Weithorn offered the suggestion to impose a percentage to keep Lincoln from becoming “a wasteland of tables and chairs.” For example, 75 percent of restaurants closed for lunch could keep their furniture on Lincoln while it was closed, with permission given out on a first-come first-serve basis.

Commissioner Saul Gross asserted that enforcement would become a problem.

“Keep government out of where it doesn’t have to be,” Gross said.

The commission voted 4-3 to forward the item on to the Neighborhood / Community Affairs Committee for further input. The second reading and public hearing before the commission is scheduled for July 15. In the meantime the city will not cite businesses for violations.

“I really have a problem when the outside [area] of Lincoln Road looks like a storage area,” Bower said. “When the restaurants are closed that becomes a public space.”

comments@theleadmiamibeach.com