BZA approves First Presbyterian Church's Journey Café special exception

The Elkhart City Board of Zoning Appeals on July 10 approved a special exception permitting the First Presbyterian Church to operate a public cafe, called the Journey Café, in its lower level at 200 East Beardsley Avenue.

A church representative, identified in the hearing as Backhouse, described plans to offer coffee, limited tea and light lunches (soups, sandwiches, paninis) Tuesday through Friday from roughly 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Backhouse said the cafe is intended as community outreach and a gathering place for neighborhood residents and visitors to the nearby Ruthmere Museum and Havala Beardsley House.

Staff treated the request as an expansion of the church's existing special-exception use for a place of worship and recommended approval with conditions. Staff noted the petitioner is in early planning conversations with the Elkhart County Health Department and the city water and sewer departments and will be required to provide proof of county health department approval and install fats, oils and grease interceptor equipment as specified by the plan commission condition.

Bill Furstenberger, executive director of the Ruth Muir Foundation, spoke in favor and said the cafe would fill a walkable gap in food service for the Christiana neighborhood and Beardsley Historic District. The written notice record included 38 mailed letters: two returned in favor and one returned opposed; the opposed letter raised traffic concerns and objected to non-religious activity in a tax-exempt house of worship.

A board member moved to approve the special exception (case 25X06), adopting the petitioners' presentation and the staff findings; a second was recorded. The roll-call vote was unanimous (Mulvaney — yes; Newbill — yes; Elijah Rykov — yes). The board's approval is conditioned on compliance with Elkhart County health department requirements and the installation of fats, oils and grease interceptor equipment as required by the plan commission.