Plans to create a restaurant in Pinecrest Gardens hit a snag on Tuesday.
Dozens of residents showed up at Tuesday’s Village Council meeting to scold council members for what they said was an attempt to create a banquet hall at the Gardens.
Residents told the council they disapprove of plans to give a restaurateur the freedom to host parties at night in a proposed restaurant at the Gardens because they say it would lead to the creation of a banquet hall in a residential area.
Resident Gladys Patino said a banquet hall does not belong “in the backyard” of other residents.
“One thing is to have a restaurant,” she said, “another thing is to have a venue where people are drinking and driving and causing accidents.”
But Mayor Cindy Lerner said the village has no plans to create a banquet hall.
She told residents that a consulting firm hired by the village suggested that they give leeway to anyone who plans to start a restaurant at the Gardens’ Cypress Hall to cater parties, as well as run a full-service restaurant.
“A banquet hall has never been our intent,” Lerner said. “We don’t want a banquet hall. We want a full-service restaurant.”
Village Manager Yocelyn Galiano Gomez said that it would also be physically impossible to have a banquet hall in Cypress Hall, because the room would be able to accommodate no more than 150 people — too few for a banquet hall.
For the past several years, Pinecrest officials have tried to start a restaurant at Cypress Hall, which has had the support of the community.
The village already sent out a request for proposals, but residents feel the language used in the village’s written solicitation gives any future restaurateur too much freedom.
On Tuesday, council members were considering a resolution that would loosen existing restrictions on night-time parties with alcohol at the Gardens in order to allow alcohol at indoor facilities at night.
The resolution was one of many steps village officials were considering to attract a restaurant operator to the Gardens.
“We wanted to assure a restaurateur that they would not be limited to those rules for outdoor parties,” Lerner said.
Residents were unconvinced, though. They said that it if a restaurant is allowed to throw parties at night with alcohol, it would surely result in drunk-driving accidents for the surrounding community.
Danielle Sayet, a Pinecrest resident, said that it would be wiser to have a café serving sandwiches and coffee rather than a full-service restaurant, considering that Pinecrest Gardens is a family-friendly place.
“I don’t understand how we would allow that in a residential area,” she said. “I am sorry, I don’t think that alcohol mixes.”
After hearing from a dozen unhappy residents, the council postponed a vote on loosening the alcohol rules.
Councilmember Joseph Corradino said he also supported a restaurant and not a banquet hall.
He said he could not imagine that any member of the council wanted a banquet hall either, but he conceded that their current plans were too unpopular to move forward with.
“I think we need to step back and work with the community,” Corradino said, “maybe in a workshop.”
The council also decided to rewrite parts of the village’s request for proposal to make it clear that a banquet hall could not be created in the Gardens. They also decided to extend the process for seeking a restaurateur, since changes were made.
Lerner said the resolution was simply needed to make a restaurant facility in Cypress Hall more profitable, as well as less dependent on taxpayer money. Currently, Pinecrest Gardens relies on village taxpayers for most of its budget.
She said profit margins for restaurants typically come from catering and serving alcohol.
“This is being blown way out of proportion,” Lerner told residents.
Tucker Gibbs, an attorney representing retirement homes near the Gardens, accused the village of attempting to break some legal promises that were made when the village bought the site, which used to be Parrot Jungle.
“Part of the covenant through the buying of Parrot Jungle promised that there would be no alcohol expect for four times a year, and it has to be approved by the Village Council,” Gibbs said. “Nobody wanted a Signature Gardens back then,” he said, referring the large banquet facility in West Kendall, “and that’s what you are doing.”
