The Willow Glen Resident

Council Watch

Lincoln Avenue retailers may have to cool their grills

By Cecily Barnes

Every Saturday afternoon for the past eight years, La Villa Delicatessen has rolled out its 5-foot, charcoal barbecue and fired up chicken and ribs for weekend customers. It's a Willow Glen tradition.

Up the street at Plaza Inn, another tradition has included barbecued pork and chicken for Monday night football--not part of the menu, just a courtesy. Willow Glen Billiards and Brew also charbroils steak and other goodies for lunch and dinner. According to the city of San Jose's code-enforcement department, effective immediately these businesses must stop barbecuing--until they've earned conditional-use permits from the city.

"On both sides of [Lincoln] there are residential areas," said code enforcement inspector Cindi Gil-Blanco. "In that commercial zone, they have to obtain a conditional-use permit for barbecuing. The permit would address some of the issues that come up, like smoke that blows into the residences."

Barbecue smoke on Lincoln Avenue became a known problem at the Planning Commission hearing for Billiards and Brew's application for a permit to close at 2 a.m. At this Nov. 19 meeting, Blewett Avenue resident William Ready said barbecue smoke from the brewpub blew right up to his porch, contaminating the air and hindering his ability to sit outside or crack open the window.

"They frequently use an outdoor barbecue and it's about 120 feet from our window," Ready said at the hearing. "I find any kind of smoke prejudicial to my health."

Commissioners asked staff if the pub's permit specified outdoor barbecuing. It did not, and neither did the permits belonging to La Villa Delicatessen or Plaza Inn. The complaint was turned over to the code enforcement department, which sent out compliance orders to these businesses to obtain a permit or stop barbecuing.

According to Carol Hamilton of the city of San Jose's Planning Department, any store that's within 150 feet of a residential neighborhood and does business outdoors must have a conditional-use permit.

"Outdoor uses have the potential to be troublesome," Hamilton said. "The conditional-use permit is to see if it's an appropriate use."

To obtain a conditional-use permit, business owners must pay a fee and present their case at a public hearing before the Planning Commission.

The owners of Billiards and Brew, Plaza Inn and La Villa say that as long as it's not too expensive, they'll simply fill out the application and get the permit.

"If you come in Monday night, you eat barbecue free and watch football," Plaza Inn owner Jess Martinez said. "If the permit is not too much money, I don't mind buying it."

Dave Bertucelli, who has drawn people to his Saturday afternoon barbecue at La Villa for the last eight years, says it's frustrating that neighbors would complain in light of all his business does for the community.

"You do everything to feed the neighborhood good food, and then they come along and complain about a little smoke," Bertucelli said. "My feeling is if they don't want to live near a business district, then they shouldn't have bought their house where they did."

Nonetheless, in order to keep his customers happy, Bertucelli plans to apply for the permit to keep barbecuing. And while none of the three businesses are happy about being stuck with a compliance order, all agree this couldn't have happened at a better time. Bertucelli typically shuts down his barbecue over the holidays anyway, and Martinez says the rain has kept him inside most of the month.

"In the wintertime we don't barbecue at all, not until the rain is all over," Martinez said.

In order to ensure that the businesses are keeping fire off the coals until they've obtained permits, inspector Gil-Blanco says she or someone else at her office will conduct unscheduled site visits.

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