Members of the Greater Bustleton Civic League have voted not to oppose piano playing in a Grant Avenue restaurant or the expansion of a Krewstown Road church building.
After listening to several political candidates make their pitches for support in the upcoming election, members voted to back a zoning variance application for Randi’s restaurant on Grant Avenue that would permit piano playing on the premises.
An inspector from the city’s Department of Licenses & Inspections had told Randi’s owners that they needed the variance because the city’s code didn’t allow a piano in an establishment that doesn’t have a “cabaret” designation, which Randi’s didn’t have.
After some discussion during the crowded March 28 civic group session at the American Heritage Federal Credit Union, members backed the variance almost unanimously. Only one person voted against the restaurant at 1651 Grant Ave.
The First Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Church got the league’s support for expansion of a building on its property at 9620 Krewstown Road, although many neighbors in attendance said they opposed it and voted against it.
Those neighbors, residents of Walley and Rising Sun avenues, submitted petitions against the church’s plans to raise the roof on a building and put in offices, a music room and a storage room. A variance is needed because of the property’s residential zoning.
One neighbor who spoke before the vote said there was a lot of bad blood between the church’s members and area residents. He said neighbors were suspicious of the church’s intentions and likened it to a social club rather than a religious organization. It was a matter of trust, he said, and there wasn’t any.
His arguments, however, didn’t sway other members, and they voted overwhelmingly to support the church’s variance application. ••
