Skorpios Restaurant will be permitted to double in size due to a pending change to Vienna's zoning ordinance, but some Town Councilmembers wondered if the zoning change was the best way to allow the business to grow.
In the current ordinance, restaurants are only permitted to exist in "shopping centers" which are defined as a group of at least five stores with a total of at least 10,000 square feet. The change now requires at least four stores or 10,000 square feet, explained Greg Hembree, director of planning and zoning for the town.
Nine other retail centers, besides the one where Skorpios is located, will be considered "shopping centers" under the proposed definition. "I don’t see a huge problem, but I want you to be aware you are bringing 10 shopping centers into the fold," Hembree said.
The issue of what is a shopping center was highlighted by Skorpios Restaurant. The business adjoining it closed and its owner, Chris Maggio, wanted to increase the size of his restaurant. However, doing so would mean that the center would only have four businesses, and therefore the restaurant would not be allowed. Ironically, Maggio could open a second restaurant in the same location, since that would maintain the five business minimum.
"I cannot have a restaurant with 40 seatings. I can have two restaurants with 20 seatings. That doesn’t make sense," Maggio said.
The zoning ordinance really only affects restaurants and was enacted in the 1970s to prevent drive-up type establishments, Hembree said. He suggested that the town should examine the ordinance to determine if it is still needed and further suggested that the current review of the town’s Comprehensive Plan is the best time to do it. "Perhaps it ought to be looked at on a more comprehensive basis," he said. The Comprehensive Plan is due to be completed in January 2006.
COUNCILMEMBER George Lovelace said that this sort of change is not best accomplished through a "temporary" change to the zoning ordinance. "The term ‘interim’ to me is not appropriate for this kind of legislation," he said.
Others agreed that changing the law to help one business was not the way. Carole Wolfand, chair of the Town-Business Liaison Committee said that while she supports anytime a business wants to expand, this sort of temporary fix is not the way. "I think that putting a Band-Aid on one situation leads you into a can of worms," she said. "You cannot just indiscriminately change zoning at the drop of a hat just because somebody comes up with a plan."
Even under the new definitions, a shopping center would have to provide sufficient parking for its customers. Since restaurants typically require more parking than other small retail establishments, the parking availability, or lack of it, should serve to stop a large number of restaurants from popping up. "I try to make sure that each of those storefronts can stand by themselves," Hembree said.
The council had asked several questions about parking, tacitly raising the issue of the Vienna Marketplace. The small shopping center on the corner of Maple Avenue and Park Street is home to four places that serve food and drinks — Chipotle, Stone Cold Creamery, Starbucks and Noodles and Company. The center had been granted a waiver from the number of parking spaces required and is notorious for being a tough spot to find parking.
Councilmember Maud Robinson, who voted for the waiver and said it was a mistake, said she does not think it fair to judge other places by that standard. "Don’t hold other places hostage to Vienna Marketplace," she said.
She further pointed out that while several members of the council were apprehensive about unintended consequences, no one on the council was able to find anything wrong with the proposal.
The measure to change the zoning code passed on a 6-1 vote, with Lovelace voting against.