The Jacksonville Planning Commission voted 7-0 on May 6 to grant a zoning waiver and exception to serve alcohol and allow outdoor seating with a bar and TVs at the proposed Time Out Sports Grill Mandarin at 10140 San Jose Blvd.
“This is a big win for Time Out, a big win for the community and for the Mandarin area,” said owner Matt Harris, who applied for the zoning exception and waiver.
The sports restaurant is planned at the former Village Inn building that closed in 2016. Harris will lease the structure.
It is within a restricted distance of four places of worship and a school. Several restaurants within a mile of the location have received a similar liquor approval.
The building currently is zoned to allow for a restaurant that serves beer and wine, but to serve all liquor requires additional approvals.
The restaurant abuts a neighborhood on Haley Road.
Many of the residents in the area are Orthodox Jews who do not drive or use electricity during the Sabbath. That includes using street crossing signals.
Neighbors were concerned that a sports restaurant would attract too many customers who might endanger pedestrians along Haley Road.
Harris, who owns the Time Out Sports Grill on 13799 Beach Blvd. near Hodges Boulevard, agreed to hire at his expense a crossing guard on Friday evenings and on high holy days to help observant Jews cross San Jose Boulevard to reach the synagogue.
The commission deferred the zoning changes at the April 22 meeting so that Harris could address community concerns.
At the beginning of the May 6 meeting, Rogers Towers attorney Wyman Duggan listed concessions Harris was willing to make:
■ The proposed patio would have been moved from Haley Road toward the center of the building fronting San Jose Boulevard.
■ A 6-foot wood or vinyl fence would be built along Haley Road next to the sidewalk and be landscaped on the restaurant side of the fence.
■ The proposed outside bar would have been removed.
■ There would be no outside televisions.
■ The planned 45 patio seats would have been reduced to two or three picnic tables.
■ Where legal, Harris would pay for “no parking” signs placed in the neighborhood.
■ A proposed charity basketball tournament that was to be held in the restaurant parking lot would be removed from the plan.
Ten friends and family spoke on Harris’ behalf telling the commission that he is of the Jewish faith, he grew up in Mandarin and that he is a man of good character who is respectful of the neighborhood.
Another 10, half as many who spoke against his plan at the first meeting, voiced opposition.
The main contention was a desire for a wall rather than a fence and their request that the restaurant entrance on Haley Road be permanently closed.
Residents didn’t want customers leaving the restaurant to turn onto Haley Road and enter the subdivision hoping to take a presumed shortcut to avoid San Jose Boulevard traffic.
After public comment, the commissioners discussed Harris’ concessions and the desires of the neighbors.
Closing the Haley Road restaurant entrance would have posed safety concerns for emergency vehicles.
Commission member Daniel Blanchard noted that customers driving north on San Jose Boulevard were likely to turn onto Haley Road thinking there was an entrance and end up having to drive through the neighborhood to return to San Jose Boulevard to reach Time Out.
The commission passed an amendment 7-0 to have Harris erect signage telling customers that Haley Road dead ends and no right turn was allowed out of the parking lot. That must meet city traffic safety ordinance review.
Another amendment that passed unanimously calls for additional fencing and landscaping in the back parking lot to further separate the restaurant from Haley Road.
Blanchard offered an amendment that also passed unanimously to return the seating, allowing for 45 seats, a bar and televisions.
The reasoning was that during the COVID pandemic, the commission has allowed for more outdoor dining exceptions and that Harris’s original proposal was much like those requests.
Harris said he would meet with his attorneys and contractors to discuss the new outdoor dining changes.
On April 22, before the request was deferred, Harris was willing to remove the outdoor dining component. He welcomed the additional outdoor seating but wasn’t sure that the bar and TVs would return to the final site plan.
“Just because we won today doesn’t mean we aren’t going to take care of our neighbors,” Harris said.
