Alpine Swift, a proposed neighborhood restaurant in District 2, is now one step closer to being able to open. After being granted a variance from the city’s off-street parking requirements and having its application for a special use permit approved by the City Plan Commission, things stalled briefly for the little restaurant slated to open in the commercial building on the corner of Pacific and Vine Streets when the Safety and Licensing Committee decided to hold off on voting on the Class “B” Beer and “Class C” Wine License application.
On 01/26/2022, the Safety and Licensing Committee took that application back up. This time, restaurant owner Adam Marty was present to speak on his own behalf and answer questions.
He told the committee that the restaurant would be a community-based space, not a tavern or a bar. They would be open 4 days a week, from 4PM to 9 PM on Wednesdays and Thursdays and 4PM to 10PM on Fridays and Saturdays. “We understand that we are in the middle of the neighborhood. We want to respect the neighbors in there. We want to follow the rules and just be part of the community.” He said they were looking forward to serving the community.
Alderperson Alex Shultz (District 9) said that he understood that the building was surrounded by residential properties and asked what efforts Adam had made to reach out to the neighboring property owners.
Adam said that when they went through the process to get a variance for the parking requirements, he met three of the homeowners in the neighborhood and talked to them about the project. Even before the city sent its letter out regarding the variance, he sent a letter out to the community introducing himself and explaining what the restaurant was and what it was about. I live a mile down the road. He wanted to do community events in the neighborhood, such as possible once a week giving away a pizza to someone in the neighborhood. He hoped that the restaurant would be a space where the neighborhood could come together and dine in. He welcomed kids and everyone.
Alderperson Schultz thought it would be a nice, unique addition to the neighborhood, but it did present a number of challenges because it was a business surrounded by residential properties.
Adam said that was the attraction for him, that it was in the middle of a residential neighborhood and was so unique.
Alderperson Schultz asked what Adam’s intended approach was to handle parking issues with the neighbors.
Adam noted that there was only parking on one side of the street for all the closest streets. He hoped that people could get to the restaurant by walking so that parking never became an issue, but he did want to be able to work with neighbors if they had issues. If there was a problem, he wanted the neighbors to be able to give him a call so that he could find the patron whose car it was and work it out. He didn’t want the people who lived there to feel that it was his restaurant against the neighborhood.
Additionally, he said, “The idea is that 30% of the guest that are gonna be coming in the building, hopefully are gonna be walking just because of the neighborhood aspect of it.”
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) thought it was important for the committee to remember that they were discussing the alcohol license application, not the things that had already been discussed by the City Plan Commission when they approved the special use permit.
Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2), who was not a committee member but was the alderperson of the District in which this building was located, said, “I just wanted to share that, as the alderperson for the district where this is located, I have really appreciated all of the effort that Adam has been taking to reach out and make his contact information available to the neighbors, and I’m very excited about this project.…I have not gotten any concerns or any input with anyone who would—has any precautions or anything about this alcohol license. And I think that we also have another example of a great neighborhood nestled little business, Moon Water Cafe, and continue to just hear about what a wonderful addition that has been to the neighborhood, and I feel like there’s sort of a direction where things are going in District 2 and I’m really excited to see Adam’s—to see Alpine Swift come online.”
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) also voiced her support for the license and thought it was a great, walkable business. She pointed out that the City Planning Department does send out letters to neighbors regarding special use permit applications, and she thought that, between that and Adam himself reaching out, if the neighbors had an issue, they would have shown up in force to either the City Plan Commission meeting or the Safety and Licensing Committee meeting [but they did not]. She was going to vote in favor of the license application.
None of the committee members had anything else to ask or add, so they went ahead and voted 5-0 to approve the alcohol license.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=896514&GUID=0F4B22DA-99BC-404F-A823-155954EAE4E3
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