The city's planning staff has given its endorsement to a new Kilroy's Bar n' Grill in Broad Ripple after the owner agreed to scale back an outdoor seating area from 4,800 square feet to 2,000 square feet. An amended site plan filed Aug. 1 shows the smaller outdoor dining area would allow for the retention of nine additional parking spaces. The restaurant and bar plans to take the entire 7,750-square-foot building at 831 Broad Ripple Ave., now home to a Cardinal Fitness. Some neighbors have opposed the proposal, wary of another large bar and concerned the outdoor dining area would remove too many scarce parking spaces. The Kilroy's plan provides for 46 parking spaces, far fewer than the 119 required under the city's development standards. The new user, though, should not change the "intensity of automobile traffic" since most visitors in Broad Ripple "walk to multiple destinations," the planning department noted in its report. "The outdoor seating would be in character with the pedestrian friendly, village atmosphere of the area." The city's Board of Zoning Appeals is scheduled to vote on a variance request for Kilroy's on Aug. 16.
It should be no problem getting the variance through the BZA. Fellow blogger Pat Andrews has detailed how the BZA panels haven't met a variance request in Broad Ripple they don't like. Tony Rezko should have plied his trade in Indianapolis instead of Chicago. He would be living the good life in Carmel instead of sitting in a cold jail cell for many years to come.
