The Planning and Zoning Agency held a public hearing Thursday to review a special use permit proposal regarding the Iron Maiden Saloon on US 1 south of County Road 210. If granted, the special use permit would allow the sale of on-premise consumption of alcohol beverages (beer and wine) and allow unpaved parking and vehicular use in connection with the proposed bar.
The agency voted unanimously to deny the application for the special permit, citing it was not compatible with the surrounding area.
The Saloon, which will be located .8 mile from Nease High School, has ruffled a few feathers with community members, including School Board member, Bill Fehling.
In an e-mail to Nease High School parents, Fehling asked for support at the meeting in speaking out against the bar.
“The School Board and Superintendent are extremely concerned about the incompatibility between this use, its intensity and its proximity to Nease High School even though the application does comply with the County’s Land Development Code,” Fehling wrote.
Fehling pointed out that the concerns stem from the fact that Nease, as well as the other high schools in the county, is an extremely active school with many after school events that occur at night and on weekends.
The permit states the hours of operation for the saloon would be from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Sunday.
School Board member Bev Slough issued an e-mail alert warning residents that “the application includes an outdoor stage.”
“While the applicant technically meets the requirement that liquor sales do not occur within 1000 feet of a school, the leadership of the school district feels that this establishment is not in the best interest of our students,” Slough wrote. “It will generate high traffic patterns during the times that our students come and go for their extracurricular events.”
Planning and Zoning Agency member Doug Laidlaw said he could not support the project based on the fact that it was incompatible with the surrounding area and there was potential to reap some “real misery on the residents of Walden Chase.”
The applicant, Brian Bennett, disagreed.
“It’s been called a biker bar, but it’s a bar,” said Bennett. “We’re not biker trash or biker scum. Most people who ride bikes are professional, they have to be. Bikes have gotten expensive. Despite the fact that we are four times the required distance, I really didn’t think this would be an issue.”
The agency received over 100 emails in opposition of the project and only 2 supporting it.
November 21st 2008 - 3:55PM