Special Review 983 - 926 Grand Avenue - This is a special review to allow the location of an all beverage liquor license with gambling and for a waiver of the 600 foot separation from a church (Church of Christ of Billings, 1016 Alderson Ave) to allow the remodel of an existing restaurant into a restaurant, bar and casino, on Block 2, Lot 11A-12A Amd., a 21,976 square foot parcel of land. Presented by Nicole Cromwell, Zoning Coordinator.

Planning staff is recommending denial of the special review request and denial of the waiver of the 600-foot separation distance to the church at 1016 Alderson Avenue. The recommendation is based on the findings of the review criteria presented in the Summary section of this report.

OWNER: Raise The Bar Investments, LLC
AGENT: Janelle Crowley
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Subset Sub, Block 2, Lots 11A & 12A
ADDRESS: 926 Grand Avenue
CURRENT ZONING: Community Commercial
EXISTING LAND USE: Vacant restaurant
PROPOSED USE: Remodeled for new restaurant, bar and casino
SIZE OF PARCEL: 21,796 square feet

None.

SUBJECT PROPERTY	Special Review	DATE	FOR	APPROVED (Y/N)	ADDITIONAL DATA
926 Grand Ave	City SR 773	Nov 22, 2004	Beer & Wine No gambling	Yes	Grains of Montana
SURROUNDING PROPERTY	Special Review	DATE	FOR	APPROVED (Y/N)	ADDITIONAL DATA
1411 13th St W	City SR 65	Aug 27, 1979	All Bev	Y	Lucky’s Grand Casino
905 Grand Ave	City SR 81	July 28, 1980	All Bev	N	Grand Stand Casino
905 Grand Ave	City SR 112	Nov 2, 1981	All Bev	Y	Grand Stand Casino
1413 13th St W	City SR 303	Jan 26, 1987	All Bev & Gambling	Y	Jackpot Nevada Casino
1116 Grand Ave	City SR 336	Jan 25, 1988	All Bev & Gambling	Y
1112 Grand Ave	City SR 342	Feb 1, 1988	Beer & Wine & Gambling	Y	The Palms Grand Casino
1411 13th St W	City SR 347	April 25, 1988	Beer & Wine & Gambling	Y	Lucky’s Grand Casino
1112 Grand Ave	City SR 358	Aug 22, 1988	Add Outdoor Patio	Y
905 Grand Ave	City SR 361	Aug 22, 1988	Add Gambling	Y	Grand Stand Casino
1307 12th St W	City SR 367	Oct 24, 1988	Beer & Wine	N	Big B Bingo & Casino
825 Grand Ave	City SR 458	April 13, 1992	All Bev & Gambling	Y	Nickels Casino & Liquor Store
1005 Grand	City SR 486	June 14, 1993	Beer & Wine	N	Four Seas Restaurant
1223 Grand Ave	City SR 581	June 10, 1996	All Bev & Gambling & Outdoor Patio	Y	Guadalajara’s
1005 Grand Ave	City SR 608	July 28, 1997	Beer & Wine	Y	Four Seas Restaurant
1102 Grand Ave	City SR 845	May 29, 2007	All Bev & Gambling	Y	Tarantino’s Pizza

 
 

NORTH:	Zoning: Community Commercial (CC) Land Use: Offices/Retail
SOUTH:	Zoning: Residential 7,000 (R-70) Land Use: Single family homes
EAST:	Zoning: CC Land Use: Music Store
WEST:	Zoning: CC Land Use: Bank

This is a special review request to locate an all beverage liquor license with gambling in an existing 3,772 square foot building in a Community Commercial zone at 926 Grand Avenue. This is the former location of the Grains of Montana restaurant. This restaurant had a beer and wine license approved in 2004. This license had no gambling attached to the license. The current property boundary (adjusted after the 2004 alcohol license approval) is within 600 feet of a church, Church of Christ Billings, at 1016 Alderson Avenue. A waiver from the required separation distance - measured property line to property line - will be required as well. The separation distance measures approximately 285 feet.

The applicant and new owner would like to remodel the property for an "upscale" bar, casino and restaurant. The applicant proposes a waiver of the 600-foot separation to a church be granted since there is no direct line-of-sight between the two buildings. There is also no direct sidewalk path between the two uses. The applicant's letter also states an intent to create an outdoor patio space and to provide a small venue for local musicians and artists. The planned renovations of the property include increasing the building height.

The zoning history in this area of Grand includes 16 special review requests since 1979 to allow alcohol service with and without gambling. Most of these were approved. Most of these special review requests were not for restaurant venues but for bars and casinos. Some locations may also serve made-to-order meals such as Tarantino's Pizza and Guadalajara's but for the most part, these approved locations were for bars and casinos: Lucky's Grand Casino, Nickels Casino, The Palms Grand Casino, Grand Stand Casino, Jackpot Casino and the Big B Bingo and Casino.

The Council has expressed concern with the number of alcohol and gaming locations within the city and how to better regulate these uses to protect neighborhoods, and improve the community character along its commercial corridors. Project Re:Code has proposed major changes to how these uses will be regulated including adoption of casino, bar and restaurant definitions, making separation distances non-waivable, changing how those separations are measured, and allowing some alcohol service businesses without special review approval. For example, if this application were submitted after the adoption of the new code, it would be required to demonstrate its primary use as a restaurant - a place that sells more food than alcohol. In addition, any casino would be limited to no more than nine gambling machines. A bar - a place that sells more alcohol than food, or a casino with ten or more gambling machines would not be an allowed use in this location due to the location of the church property within 600 feet of the subject property.

The property is across a 20-foot alley from a residential neighborhood and is a mid-block location between the stop-controlled intersections of 9th St W and 10th St W. Grand Avenue is a 5-lane principal arterial street that sustains about 22,000+ vehicle trips per day on an average weekday. Grand Avenue has a posted speed limit of 35 mph, and has a center turn lane to allow turning movements to the businesses along the corridor. The property currently has vehicle access to the adjacent alley and has two driveways off of Grand Avenue.

Police reports for this general area (1/4-mile radius of 926 Grand) for the last six months indicate 208 reported incidents including 16 DUI, eight assaults, three burglaries and two robberies. The largest category of reports are disturbing the peace (138), which includes suspicious activity and noise complaints. This is not an unusually high number of incidents along the Grand Avenue.

Planning staff has reviewed the criteria for special review for the proposed use and is recommending denial based on these findings. Although the use meets the first criteria - the use is an allowed special review use in the CC zone - the number of existing locations for alcohol service and gambling within 1/4-mile of this location (a 10 minute walk) is sufficient for the area. There are 14 locations serving food or alcohol (or both) and eight locations for gambling. The zoning code does not specify a required separation or spacing requirement for alcohol licenses or gambling activities, but consideration of the number of outlets within a small market area has relevance to the economic viability of the corridor.

The second criteria is whether the location meets the goals and objectives of the zoning code. The zoning code and growth policy have a primary goal of ensuring compatibility between uses and reducing conflicts between adjacent properties. The site made some improvements required in 2004 when the beer and wine license was approved for Grains of Montana. Grains of Montana was a successful lunch and early dinner location but was never open later than 8 pm and was not open on weekends. The proposed use would have customer activity on the property much later each night and on weekends. The adjacent businesses - a bank and a music store - do not have late night time hours, so activity after 8 pm is currently unusual on this block of Grand Avenue. The proposed use may not be compatible with the adjacent residential uses or the adjacent businesses on Grand Avenue. The applicant has not proposed any mitigation of the potential impacts from the remodeling or new uses to the adjacent properties. The third review criteria is whether the location and use is sufficiently screened or buffered from adjacent sensitive land uses. The customer access to the alley is not a condition that is sensitive to the adjacent residential uses on Alderson Avenue. In addition, the proposal to increase the building height is also not sensitive to the adjacent neighborhood where most homes are single story dwellings.

Before a recommendation of approval or conditional approval can be made, each special review request must demonstrate conformance with three primary criteria: 1) the application complies with all parts of the Zoning Regulations, 2) the application is consistent with the objectives and purposes of the Zoning Regulations and the 2016 Growth Policy, and 3) the application is compatible with surrounding land uses and is otherwise screened and separated from adjacent land to minimize adverse impacts.

This application conforms to the first criteria in so far that the zoning regulations adopted by the City Council has designated all CC zones can have a liquor license with gaming as long as they go through the special review process. The proposed location and site development mostly complies with the zoning requirements. The customer access to the alley is noncompliant with the zoning code requirements (BMCC Section 27-612(e) and Section 27-1105), the solid waste dumpster is not enclosed, and the landscaping on the site does not meet the minimum requirements (BMCC Sec. 27-1100).

The location has requested a waiver of the required 600-foot separation distance to the church at 1016 Alderson Avenue. There is no line of sight between the two locations and there is no direct sidewalk access. While these two conditions can be considered in favor of a waiver, the City Council is not required to grant any waiver of the separation distance. The City Council last granted a separation distance waiver to a location at 149 Shiloh Road (May 2019) for a new business with a beer and wine (no gambling) license in the Shiloh Commons development. The Council granted the waiver after receiving a letter of support from the church in question - Faith Chapel. Prior to this waiver, the Council granted a waiver to Blaze Pizza (2018) in front of the Rimrock Mall for separation from Central Heights Elementary (east across 24th St W and behind the Rimrock Mini Mall) and Stewart Park (west and behind the Rimrock Mall). Blaze Pizza also was requesting a beer and wine license without gambling. An all beverage license with gambling requested a waiver for a location on Shiloh Road (2018) near the United Methodist Church. This request was denied. The City Council granted a waiver of the 600 foot separation distance for a relocation of a casino (Copper Creek Casino) from 1731 King Ave W to 545 18th St West. The existing location was next door to the church and the relocation site was about 300 feet north and west. Another location at 1524 Main St in the Heights was also approved for a waiver of the 600-foot separation to Arrowhead Park in 2016.

The application does not meet the second criteria, as it is not consistent with some of the objectives of the 2016 Growth Policy:
Strong Neighborhoods:

• Neighborhoods that are safe and attractive and provide essential services are much desired.

Neighborhoods sharing a boundary with intense commercial uses can experience conditions detrimental to the quiet enjoyment of the area. The impacts include increased traffic and noise late at night from evening-oriented businesses such as bars and casinos. Typical commercial food and beverage service requires frequent solid waste collection that may add to noise. It may not be possible to screen or buffer the adjoining neighborhood from these potential impacts.

Home Base:

• Common to all types of housing choices is the desire to live in surroundings that are affordable, healthy and safe.

A restaurant, bar and casino may have an unpredictable impact on the neighborhood. This is mostly dependent on the proposed business model and management. It is not possible under our current code requirements to impose conditions that dictate how a location approved for an all beverage license can be structured or managed. For example, if the current proposal were to be unsuccessful, the license and premises could be sold to a new owner who might run the business strictly as a casino and bar without any made-to-order food service. This level of unpredictability does not create a healthy or safe neighborhood.

The third criteria for special review is whether the proposed use is screened and separated for the adjacent uses to minimize adverse impacts. Planning staff is not certain whether blocking vehicle access to the alley is possible given the small number of existing parking spaces and maneuverability within the existing lot. Access to the alley has always existed on this parcel even prior to the building remodel for Grains of Montana in 2004. The applicant also mentioned the installation of an outdoor patio where potential live music could be offered. Outdoor patios approved through special review in close proximity to residential neighborhoods have proven to be problematic due to noise complaints from outdoor amplified music. Conditions of approval can be imposed on the uses allowed or prohibited on outdoor patios but are difficult to enforce over time. Planning staff is not recommending any conditions of approval for this location and denial of the special review and waiver of the 600-foot separation distance.

Planning staff is recommending denial of the special review request and denial of the waiver of the 600-foot separation distance to the church a 1016 Alderson Avenue.