Whether safety and alfresco dining can break bread together next summer at the Cafe Bari restaurant is still in question after Batavia Plan Commission members on Wednesday continued a public hearing to next month on a request to add outdoor seating.
Owners of the restaurant are trying to add a 14-by-25-foot outdoor partition with a screened canopy next summer to the north side of the building. It would be across the street and directly south of the entrance to the Riverwalk, slated for completion this fall.
But the possibility of outside diners being in the path of delivery trucks or other vehicles entering, exiting or passing near the mall concerned commission members. The restaurant’s request was presented to the commission Wednesday by Linda Stuart and H.D. McCormick of Grate Signs, a Joliet-based company hired by the restaurant to create the outdoor area.
“That corner is difficult (already) because of the grade level and creates a lot of near misses . . . a lot,” said Commissioner Wendy Lee. She also joined other commissioners concerned that the seating area would be placed at traffic level, not on a deck or a patio.
The representatives said border planters would be extended and bumper poles of steel and concrete would be installed at the corners. Still, commissioners continued the public hearing to Aug. 5 and asked the Police Department to review the safety of the seating area.
Also Wednesday, commissioners recommended that several design conditions be attached to the redevelopment plans and rezoning requests by Phillips 66 to expand its facility at Fabyan Parkway and Washington Avenue. In its plans to expand the facility with a larger store, additional pumps and a carwash, the company included building a fence along its border, fronted by pines, as a noise buffer.
But residents living near that border asked for bushes instead of trees, saying that needles from the pines would fall into their swimming pools. Along with recommending the bushes, the commissioners also recommended adding the condition that the company would be responsible for fence maintenance, and that the facility’s street sign have brick added to its top and sides.