
{"id":22195,"date":"2011-12-01T12:41:10","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T17:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=22195"},"modified":"2011-12-01T12:41:10","modified_gmt":"2011-12-01T17:41:10","slug":"johnny%e2%80%99s-to-reopen-soon-neighbors-concerned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/12\/01\/johnny%e2%80%99s-to-reopen-soon-neighbors-concerned\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to reopen soon; neighbors concerned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_22196\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22196\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Kids-at-Johnnys-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Kids-at-Johnnys-1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Kids-at-Johnnys-1-113x84.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Kids-at-Johnnys-1-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Kids-at-Johnnys-1-100x75.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22196\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pablo Valencia (left) and Drew Pilant (on drums), the Pablo and Drew Latin Duo, perform for crowds at a fundraiser at Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s earlier this year.\t   Photo by Tod Andrews <\/figcaption><\/figure><strong>By Susan Dickson<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><br \/>\nNearly six months after Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s closed, one of the property owners and two partners are hoping to reopen it, but neighbors are concerned about what form the local store and gathering place might take. <\/p>\n<p>Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s closed on June 23 after owners Brian Plaster and Jan Halle parted ways. Plaster said at the time that he closed the business because he ran into issues with noise and parking as Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s became a popular gathering spot, but Halle said she hoped to reopen it without Plaster. <\/p>\n<p>She has since partnered with locals Erica Eisdorfer and Kevin Morgan, and the three hope to reopen Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s by Christmas, Eisdorfer said. In a conversation earlier this fall, Halle said she hoped to be able to continue to sell beer and wine for on-site consumption, but that town staff had told her she would need to seek a rezoning in order to do so. <\/p>\n<p>Tonight (Thursday), Halle, Eisdorfer and Morgan will go before Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s advisory boards for a preliminaryreview of their application, which has not yet been officially submitted to the town. <\/p>\n<p>According to town planning director Trish McGuire, the property is actually zoned residential, but Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had been permitted to continuing operating there. The Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that occupied the space for many years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a bait and tackle shop \u00e2\u20ac\u201c was at one time in line with the zoning for the property, but the zoning changed to residential a number of years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Because the business predated the zoning change, it was allowed to continue operating with previously approved uses \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t include on-site alcohol consumption \u00e2\u20ac\u201c under provisions of the zoning ordinance. However, the ABC license that Plaster received in order to serve beer and wine on site was not reviewed by the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s zoning staff before it was approved, McGuire said. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was an inadvertent approval of on-site sales,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. <\/p>\n<p>According to McGuire, the town had received multiple comments from concerned residents regarding Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. Last week, Tina Saldana, a resident of Westview Drive, which runs alongside Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, presented a letter from 75 residents to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen opposing on-site alcohol sales at the store, citing public-safety concerns. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The large crowds that came to the location to consume alcohol were a serious public safety hazard in an area of town that was not designed for such a site,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the letter states. The letter also cites the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s negligence in signing off on the ABC license that did not conform to the zoning. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We feel the town has neglected our rights to be protected and served by its public officials and urge current parties to act in accordance with their public responsibilities by directing the owners to seek a different property if they wish to continue in a business that involves the consumption of alcohol on its premises,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the letter continues. <\/p>\n<p>Saldana said Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s patrons sometimes brought 50 to 60 cars parked along Westview Drive. <\/p>\n<p>She added that she and her family were supportive of the store initially, buying small grocery items and Christmas trees there, but that over time the store carried fewer grocery items and more beer and wine. Crowds grew, and parking and noise became a problem, Saldana continued. <\/p>\n<p>Eisdorfer said she and her partners hope to offer more grocery items when Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reopens, like local produce, meats and cheeses, as well as beer and wine. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like the place can survive without on-site consumption of alcohol,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a delicate balance.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Eisdorfer said they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten a lot of support from members of the community who would like to see Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reopened. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For us, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a labor of love,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What we want to do is what the community wants, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to know who wants what more.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nearly six months after Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s closed, one of the property owners and two partners are hoping to reopen it, but neighbors are concerned about what form the local store and gathering place might take. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22197,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22195\/revisions\/22197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}