Source: Nay Café by Google Street View.
The Richardson City Council voted unanimously on August 11, 2025, to deny a request for a special use permit for a smoking establishment for an outdoor patio in conjunction with a restaurant.
It's rare for Richardson to unify against a business request. We too often overrule our zoning ordinances because they aren't compatible with a business's wants. That's how we end up with outdoor lumber yards, used car lots, or superblock apartment buildings. Our zoning ordinances were written for good reasons. Let's honor those reasons. It's healthy for the City to say "no" sometimes.
The council denied this special use request after bringing up various concerns. The thatch roof over the patio. The garage doors separating the interior of the restaurant from the patio. The proximity of other restaurants. Even the objections of competitors who already have their own special use permits. If the council's deliberations helped clarify just what criteria a business would have to meet in order to qualify for a special use permit, I didn't hear it. That's bad. We ought to be sending a clear message to guide others the next time someone is thinking about opening a smoking establishment.
To see just how confused the current state of affairs is, note that this very same special use permit request was heard by the City Plan Commission on July 15, 2025. They approved it 5-0. The CPC was obviously using different criteria to decide this case than the city council used just a few weeks later. But exactly what those criteria might be was not spelled out by either the CPC or the city council. If this seems like government by whim, that's because no one explained what it takes to get to "yes." Good luck doing business with the City of Richardson in that kind of regulatory environment.
You don't have to have a majority voting "yes" to be considered "business friendly." Just removing the uncertainty around what it takes to get to "yes" is also being business-friendly.
The crux of the confusion is that the city council acts like, say, the US Supreme Court, judging applications for zoning changes brought before it, but not leaving written opinions for their votes, so the cases do not provide us with written guidance to know how future cases might be decided. In courts, such guidance is known as case law. Knowing why councils have decided past zoning change requests helps businesses understand what future changes to zoning ordinances might be acceptable to the city, thereby providing clear guidance to businesses as they make future investment plans. It changes government by whim into government by precedent.
Another use that requires a special use permit is offering drive-through service at a restaurant. Given how rarely those requests are ever denied, I have to wonder what it takes to get a denial. Council members should give thought to the criteria they look for in granting or denying such requests. Then, to be business friendly, they should share the criteria that informs their vote in particular cases. Pro-active transparency in decision-making helps businesses decide where and how to invest their own money.
"Smoking is special,
yet path to 'yes' is unclear.
Smoke's in city hall."
— h/t ChatGPT
No comments:
Post a Comment