Stated Intended Uses for Civic Arts Building
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 3 July 2008 — 3 comments below »
One of the most substantive arguments against the proposed conditional use permit for a Thai restaurant to move-in to the restored historic Civic Arts Building is that the use (full-service restaurant) does not match what has been outlined for the site.
As stated as fact in the staff report on the subject…
In October 2006, the rehabilitated building was being considered to be adaptively reused with a tenant that had not yet been defined. [...] Based on the prior uses of the building (initially as a residence; subsequently as a day care center), feedback received from the public at a neighborhood meeting, and the site’s limited parking improvements, the following potential uses of the Civic Arts Building were identified:
- Residential
- Day care
- Community center
- Café
- Museum
- “Warming hut”/bookshop/community space
- Community store (e.g., gift shop)
- “Bed and breakfast” lodging
I’ll point this out, even though it is obvious: a full-service restaurant is not listed.
Having watched the July 7th meeting, I heard these alternatives listed. My recollection is that these were brainstormed at the meeting a couple years ago. That would imply suggestions, not all-inclusive or limiting. Many of these ideas are either “do-nothings” that nobody will use unless specifically goaded to (a museum – who goes to similar places in Richmond or Pinole? Those never have people there; a gift sop – who will go over to Railroad Av. to buy trinkets?; bed-and-breakfast – who would want to stay in the vicinity of that railroad with its noises at all hours? or why spend a vacation in that corner of Hercules, of all places?; warming center – get real, people….this is grasping at straws to have something on the list.
Of the others, several will have much more impact on the area that a Thai-Asian fusion restaurant ever had. A day center – talk about noises from cars dropping off kids early in the morning, then shouts and shrieks all day long;
I was originally against the idea of a restaurant there. The reasons for objections were so ludicrous that I would have liked to see it go in. Traffic: with the people from Promenade using Railroad to Santa Fe as a main route, there are several cars per minute most of the time from 5 am to 9 am and from 3 pm to 7 pm (I live on Santa Fe and see this every day).
Parking: Some said this would limit people using the park. That is only a car or two at any time. Most people walk to there. That end of Railroad rarely has cars on it.
This restaurant would have had only one, two, three, maybe even four dozen people in it at a time. Even with employees (9, according to them), this is maybe twenty cars coming and going or parking there.
Noise: Nothing ever compares to the railroad!!! Bucolic and quiet do not describe the area much of the time. There are also the typical noises of a suburban area.
Privacy: What people that are out to eat at an upscale restaurant are going to amuse themselves by trying to look over a six-foot fence to see people]s yards? I never bother when I’m out dining. I could care less about what people forty feet away are doing.
Proximity to the park: The park is, sadly, seldom used. Even then, there is little interconnection of the two. The people in the park never were bothered by all of the construction going on.
The only concrete reason I heard was the smells, but then yesterday I went by the historic homes on a walk and someone was grilling burgers in their yard. I guess their neighbors happened not to be at home to complain.
I get the feeling that the Civic Arts Building will go the path of the Clubhouse. Lots of money spent to make a beautiful building that nobody uses, then it gradually is let to go to pot.
A cafe would work well. The larger restaurants should be located at the northern end of Railroad, as part of the Hercules Bayfront project and live/work units.
This is my personal favorite and why it was not listed as being unfeasible. It is possible. The hours of operation would be less of an issue since it would not be late in the evening. I am thinking something like a Bagel Street Cafe or similar place. But all of the arguments that were brought up against the restaurant would apply as much – noise starting early from employees showing up at 5 am, customers for coffee, baked goods, etc. for breakfast, traffic, noises, privacy, et cetera, et cetera.
Nothing that was objected to could not be equally objected to for the same reasons, thus my feeling that a mostly unused and vacant building is the only thing some people would agree to.