A parking dispute between a San Marco coffee shop and its neighbors has resulted in a pair of appeals introduced to City Council this week.
Resolutions 2017-728 and 2017-729 seek to overturn a decision from the city Planning Commission allowing Bold Bean Coffee Roasters Inc. to expand sales and service to include outdoor seating, citing a lack of required parking.
Bold Bean opened at 1905 Hendricks Ave. in 2016. In addition to coffee, the shop serves food, beer and wine.
The Southside Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida Inc. and a trust for attorney Robert M. Harris filed the appeals. Both said Bold Bean has outgrown its parking capacity.
LC Turner LLC, owner of the coffee shop building, sought a zoning exception from the city on behalf of Bold Bean to add four tables with a maximum of eight seats to its outdoor patio facing Hendricks Avenue.
City Planning and Development Department staff recommended the exception, with four conditions: Bold Bean would need to add two parking spaces, parking for bicycles, bring landscaping up to code and pass an inspection showing the changes had been made.
During the Sept. 21 Planning Commission meeting, one of Bold Bean’s owners, Zack Burnett, argued the business should be allowed to add the additional seating without meeting any of those conditions.
Burnett told commissioners that the landscaping requirement was an “unreasonable hardship” since the business and the city already had met and revised those requirements eight times.
The extra seats, he argued, did not require extra parking because those requirements are aimed at regulating “traditional restaurants and bars.”
“In a restaurant or a bar, you will typically see, at a table of four, four people sitting at a table,” he told the commission.
“In a coffee shop, you will typically see a table of four with one person there with a computer,” he said.
He said adding additional parking was not possible since the property doesn’t have the space.
Commissioners agreed and unanimously approved the exemption, waiving the conditions recommended by staff.
That’s where Robert Harris takes issue.
His law firm, Harris Guidi Rosner P.A., is at 1837 Hendricks Ave., next door to the coffee shop.
“The real issue is that staff recommended these changes, and for some reason they just swept them aside,” Harris said. “Everyone thought that was going to happen.”
Harris has large “no parking” signs to prevent coffee shop customers and suppliers from using his lot.
“They clearly don’t have enough parking,” he said. “They should have to follow the requirements like everyone else.”
Bold Bean co-owner Jay Burnett said in an email that shop has its own signage posted at the entrance of the building asking customers to “be a good neighbor and help us by not parking in the firm’s lot.” The sign tells customers to not park there, “not even for a second.”
Southside Baptist Church Senior Pastor Gary Webber said that when Bold Bean opened, it had an informal agreement with the church to allow its customers to use a church parking lot directly across Hendricks Avenue.
But the church no longer allows Bold Bean customers or employees to use the lot.
Webber said it’s becoming increasingly dangerous for pedestrians to cross Hendricks Avenue, especially since the shop serves alcohol.
“It’s more of a safety concern for us more than an outdoor seating problem,” Webber said. “We’ve been advised by our attorneys that we could be liable if someone gets injured.”
Webber said that the church would be willing to agree to a “formal arrangement” for parking with Bold Bean “if the pedestrian safety issue was addressed.”
He said he’s spoken to city officials, including District 5 council member Lori Boyer, who represents the area, about installing a crosswalk.
“I think there’s been some confusion on all sides from the start,” Boyer said. “There are no plans to install a crosswalk as of right now.”
She said she hoped the businesses and the church could come to a resolution “that works for everyone.”
Burnett declined to speak about the appeals, saying he needed to consult his business partners and attorney before commenting.
The shop shares a building with Turner Plumbing Co.
LCTurner LLC also owns a 0.12-acre parcel directly south of Bold Bean at 1917 Hendricks Ave.
Webber said the building on the property “is used to store junk” and could be razed to add more parking if the property owners wanted to do so.
“They could easily tear that building down,” Webber said. “We’ve expressed that to them, and they know where we are on the issue.”
The resolutions were introduced by the council Land Use and Zoning Committee.