Council approves permit

City gives nod to restaurant parking reduction approved by the planning commission.The City Council approved planning commission modifications to Mozambique restaurant’s permit on Tuesday. But whether the Coast Highway eatery will be able to operate with expanded hours on New Year’s Eve is still up in the air.

The City Council split, 3-2, on a commission recommendation to reduce the number of approved on-site valet-parking spaces to 61 from the previously approved 63, which had been appealed by Councilwoman Jane Egly. The reduction does not put the restaurant in violation of the number of required spaces.

Egly and Councilwoman Toni Iseman voted against the reduction, which was based on a commission count of the actual spaces. Community Development Director John Montgomery said 63 vehicles cannot be valet-parked on the site; 61 permitted spaces reflects reality.

“This is not exactly an appeal,” Egly said. “I asked for it to be brought up to find out what was really going on. Neighbors claim that a nice restaurant has become a nightclub.”

However, the appeal process limited the voting to very narrow issues of the commission’s conditional-use permit modifications and did not include a long-delayed proposal by Mozambique owners to expand the hours of operation, other changes that neighbors oppose and a request for expanded hours on New Year’s Eve.

Critical neighbors were not restricted to comments about the parking reduction and used the public hearing to vent concerns on other issues.

“Technically, an appeal limits the scope of what the council hears, but, of course, members of the public can say whatever they want,” City Attorney Philip Kohn said.

John Ferrante outlined concerns on behalf of the Woods Cove Neighborhood Assn. he has been organizing: hours of restaurant operations past 10 p.m., which attracts patrons to the bar, not the restaurant; and insufficient parking and a $5 charge for valet parking, which might lead customers to park on the streets.

“The goal of the association is to protect the quality of life and safety of the Woods Cove residents,” Ferrante said. “We are not opposed to Mozambique as a restaurant. We just don’t want a nightclub there.”

Resident Barbara Slevcove said that, even in Las Vegas, fine dinning rooms close well before midnight.

Ferrante also noted that the restaurant was caught with more seats inside than the conditional use permit allowed.

Mozambique spokesman, attorney Tim Carlyle, said the extra seating was due to inclement weather. Outdoor seating was temporarily brought inside.

“The restaurant has only been open four months -- and it is not unusual for new businesses to stub toes,” Carlyle said.

Staff inspections in November and on Dec. 2 found the restaurant to be in compliance with the permitted number and distribution of seats.

Carlyle also said the complaints about littering referred to bottles of products not sold at the restaurant, but which are sold at a nearby liquor store.

As far as parking is concerned, the restaurant has leased spaces for valet parking from nearby businesses that close at night, Carlyle said.

Critics were not appeased.

“This is a disaster,” Jeffrey Kaplan said. “We saw it coming and you guys [council] failed to act. It’s noisy. There’s parking problems and there is no plan.”

Woods Cove resident Michael Sandys said not everyone in the neighborhood agrees with the association.

“We haven’t seen the negative impacts on the neighborhood discussed here tonight,” Sandys said.

Egly, who has co-chaired a parking workshop in a neighborhood adjacent to Woods Cove, said the parking and traffic problems are not all the fault of Mozambique.

“But if we don’t do Mozambique right, it exacerbates the problem,” Egly said.

Councilwoman Iseman said the city has an obligation to plan for projects that do not create a problem.

“Parking is a problem in the area,” Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said. “We need to continue to have the planning commission monitor and refine this.”

The commission has urged restaurant management to meet weekly with neighbors to address complaints.

A formal commission review of the operation and its compliance with the conditional use permit will be conducted in August. An application to increase seating and expand the hours of operation was submitted, but continued. A hearing will be publicly noticed.