Drinks were served despite zoning problems. Now, beer may return to this Boise backyard
A controversial business in Boise’s North End could soon get its backyard beer garden and food trucks back.
Owners Jennifer Bury and Gavin O’Neal say Franklin House, which they describe as a bed-and-breakfast with a beer garden, is unique to Boise. Styled after European inns, which commonly have private rooms for overnight guests and publicly accessible spaces to buy drinks and gather, the Franklin House has become a space for its fans to gather for a casual beer or to catch a game.
The only problem? Where it sits, at 1502 W. Franklin St. in Boise, is comfortably within the residential part of the North End. The lot is zoned for residential use, not for drinks and food trucks, as were frequent before the city’s Office of Code Compliance told the owners last July that they could no longer operate the business that way.
That’s what brought Franklin House before the Boise City Council on Tuesday. Bury and O’Neal had applied for a special exception to the zoning to allow the business, now operating only as a bed-and-breakfast, to restore its former services.
The business would have to be classified as a tavern under city code. The owners say a tavern is a mischaracterization but the best description available in city code.
The owners agreed to limit gathering sizes and use special lights and speakers to minimize the effect the beer garden would have on neighbors. They also said they would do yearly check-ins with neighbors, to ensure everyone was as happy as possible.
Despite those promises, the Planning and Zoning Commission, which makes recommendations to the City Council, unanimously recommended denial of the permit after hearing hours of testimony in October. The commission said the permit could fundamentally change the neighborhood.
Neighbors were split then and on Tuesday night. Some neighbors, including those recently involved with the controversial North End Neighborhood Association election that saw much of the association’s board replaced, were strictly against the project and what it would mean for the neighborhood, while others, including previous NENA leaders, were in favor.
Carlos Coto, recently elected to the NENA board, was among the critics. He said that he wasn’t against having a good time, but that he felt the zoning in place did not support a tavern.
“While I understand these kinds of permits don’t create a precedent in theory, in reality, they do create a precedent,” Coto testified. “Eventually, we’re going to have more taverns in residential areas, or attempt to have more taverns in residential areas.”
He suggested that the City Council, instead of approving Franklin House’s request, modify city code to allow for spaces like beer gardens with specific requirements and expectations.
Barney Southard, who lives a block away from Franklin House, said an event space does not “fit our neighborhood.” A former bar owner, Southard said intoxicated guests sometimes get loud and rowdy.
Others said noise has never been a problem at the business. A man who lives next door testified that he and his wife plan to raise their baby, due in February, in that home.
“We wouldn’t have made this decision if we thought that Franklin House was unsafe or even loud enough to wake a newborn baby, which, by the way, it isn’t,” he said.
Others praised the community the space Franklin House created, especially as COVID-19 meant most indoor gathering places were dangerous to visit.
“It was finally a place to sit, gather safely and meet your neighbors outside during the pandemic,” Doug Cole, who bought an adjacent property in July, told the council.
Council members were divided, too.
Patrick Bageant made a motion to approve the special exception, arguing the Franklin House before July was no more intrusive than his young neighbors’ roughhousing or nearby families hosting parties. He said the city’s comprehensive plan indicates the area is intended to have that kind of use in the future.
“This is a natural, organic expression of a combination of a business opportunity and the feel of the North End,” Bageant said. “It is the type of mixed-use that fits.”
But Holli Woodings proposed denying the project. Council President Elaine Clegg asked if there was a way to continue working on the project to make it fit into code in a different way, potentially with other conditions. She wanted to consider mediation, but since no representative of the neighborhood association was present (Coto was not representing NENA when he spoke), she wasn’t sure with whom the applicant would mediate.
Cody Riddle, city planning manager, said the planning department could come back with new conditions and revised findings, including a condition requiring that the owners obtain neighborhood association approval and ensure continued cooperation.
The council went with that, voting unanimously. The council agreed to set a new public hearing no later than Feb. 2.
This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 1:29 AM.
.jpg)