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Depew board rejects Coyotes patio request
Based on concerns from residents living close to Coyotes Nightclub and a recommendation from the Depew Planning Board, the village board voted unanimously Monday to deny a special use permit for an expanded outdoor patio in the back of the Urbandale Plaza establishment.
Residents from Meadowlawn Road- whose properties abut the back of the plaza- voiced their concerns about the proposed project both at a public hearing approximately two months ago and later in front of the planning board.
Tabled originally, the planning board voted 3-1 during last week's session to recommend denying the project.
"We accepted the planning board's minutes and, having been here and hearing the complaints, we knew what the opposition was, and we were in agreement with them," said Depew Mayor Barbara Alberti, who attended the two planning board sessions in which the project was discussed.
The planning board first requested that Coyotes representatives attain a variance for an insufficient amount of bathrooms in the nightclub, then questions arose concerning whether Coyotes had a permit for a fence that currently stands behind the establishment, Alberti said.
After attaining those permits, Coyotes representatives returned to the planning board with a scaled-down version of the proposal, asking for drinks to be allowed, but not served on the proposed patio.
However, residents and the planning board took issue with the patio remaining open until 2 a.m., according to Alberti. Representatives of Coyotes tried to compromise and offered to close the patio at midnight, but planning board chairperson Thomas Seelig said that on behalf of the nightclub’s neighbors he could not approve a plan for a patio that could hold up to 200 people to be open even that late, Alberti noted.
“That was a huge stumbling block. Nobody wanted the patio open that late,” Alberti said.
According to Alberti, the denial of the 2,500-square foot patio and 10-foot-high enclosure fence includes the prohibition of drinking on a current patio, which is meant solely for smokers.
Alberti added that Coyotes may have been approved for a patio and bar if the nightclub wanted to put it in front of the establishment, but there seemed to be no interest in that idea.
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