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Blair Road restaurant given green light for expansion

The zoning bylaw amendment allowing expansion for a microbrewery/distillery on site was approved despite parking concerns raised by a council member
2021-07-13-The-Easy-Pour-Wine-Bar1
The Easy Pour Wine Bar on Blair Road will feature a microbrewery/distillery with the newly approved expansion.

There's something brewing at The Easy Pour Wine Bar. 

The Blair Road restaurant will soon include a microbrewery/distillery on site after the owner, Alin Dinu's, request for a zoning bylaw amendment was approved by council at a recent meeting. The brewery will produce small batches of beer and wine to be served restaurant customers.

The staff recommendation was in favour of the request to rezone 1656 Blair Rd. from residential to commercial to permit expansion of the existing restaurant, however, one council member had concerns around the lack of parking to accommodate the anticipated increase in patronage.

The restaurant would have 18 parking spots for the existing establishment and the expansion. That many spaces, said Michael Campos, the city's intermediate planner of development, are ample to accommodate the anticipated increase. Plus, he said, the restaurant owner has a verbal agreement with the rare Charitable Research Reserve across the road to use the non-profit's parking lot for patrons that cannot park at the establishment.

But that didn't sit well with Coun. Jan Liggett.

"I can't support it and I'll tell you why," she said. "This is going to increase traffic to that location. It will bring more people there. rare will have events on a regular basis and they use their parking lot 100 per cent, so we're going to have a problem.

"This isn't about how good a restaurant is, our job here is to make sure there's enough parking," noted Liggett. "We don't even have the board as part of this discussion, so that tells me the board may not even have knowledge that this is being expanded. I've got to look at whether the parking is appropriate for that site and it isn't. I have great concern over the increase in the clientele that's going to happen."

Coun. Mike Devine had a different perspective.

"I think we have to recognize that the Village of Blair wasn't designed by modern standards and parking is parking," he said, throwing his support behind the expansion. "There is such a thing as gentlemen's agreement on things. It would appear what they have is working. It's good for our city, Blair, and the region." 

The motion was passed with majority voting in favour of the restaurant owner's request.