Geneva planning commission approves restaurant use and parking variance for 427 East State Street

The Geneva Planning and Zoning Commission voted April 10 to approve a special use permit to convert 427 East State Street into a restaurant, granted a variance to reduce the required street-yard parking setback along Woodlawn Drive from 30 feet to 11.1 feet, and approved relief from the code requirement for interior parking-lot landscaping.

City planner Matt Busing told the commission staff recommended approval after reviewing the application and the required standards. "Staff found all of them to be met," Busing said, summarizing the staff report and the applicant's supporting materials, which included site plans, a tree survey and a photometric plan.

The commission's approval is conditioned on a recorded deed or lease requiring the property owner to maintain the required number of parking spaces for the duration of the restaurant use. That condition implements section 11-11-A-2 of the city code, which allows required parking to be provided off-site when the spaces are "in the same possession as the use they serve." Busing said the applicants own the adjacent property at 421 East State Street and propose to provide six parking spaces on-site at 427 and six additional spaces at 421 to meet the 12-space requirement for an approximately 800-square-foot restaurant.

The applicants identified themselves as Nick and Jim (Jim Nicolo) Nikolao; architect Chris Rosati presented site and grading plans and a preliminary floor plan. Rosati described access and circulation: the primary access remains from Woodlawn Drive with a drive aisle through to 421 East State so patrons may use the adjacent lot. Landscape architect Jen Shaya said an existing evergreen hedge along the northern property line will be retained and augmented to screen the residential property to the north.

During public comment and commissioner questions, neighbors and commissioners raised traffic and operational concerns. Commissioner Tim Moran asked whether the State Street reconstruction project would require taking property; Shaya replied the only change she was aware of was removal of an existing street tree and that the property line had been adjusted on plans. Resident Jim Martin testified that turning from side streets onto State Street can be dangerous. Commissioners and staff noted the applicant is not changing existing access points; staff reported no traffic-related objections in their review.

Applicant Jim Nicolo described planned kitchen equipment and odor control. "We have top-of-the-line hood system we're gonna put in," Nicolo said, adding he did not expect frying or cooking odors to affect nearby houses. Commissioners asked whether a drive-through window was planned; applicants said a drive-through would require a separate special-use request and is not part of this application.

All three motions on the item passed unanimously. On the variance to reduce the Woodlawn street-yard setback the roll call was: Mim Evans, aye; Mike Slifka, aye; Rebecca Holman, aye; Madaskill (transcript spelling), aye; Tim Moran, aye; Scott Stocking, aye. The special-use permit and the landscaping-relief motion passed on the same roll-call pattern. Matt Busing said the item will go next to the City Council on April 21 for final action.

The commission's approvals allow the property owners to proceed with final engineering and building permits, subject to the parking-maintenance deed or lease recorded with the county and final engineering approval before permit issuance. The council hearing is scheduled for April 21 at 7 p.m.