Langley City Hall is scrapping a permitting step proposed for Spyhop, the new restaurant and lounge on Second Street, after the owner’s attorney complained it was unnecessary.
The new business, which is setting up in the space formerly occupied by Mo’s Pub & Eatery, was required to apply for a conditional use permit but owners Dan and Susan Morgan of Langley objected. Their attorney sent a letter in early March voicing their protest. Langley’s legal counsel has since agreed with the position in a response letter.
“We agree with your conclusion that the Spyhop Public House should not be required to obtain a conditional use permit to establish the use,” wrote Jeff Taraday, of Seattle-based Lighthouse Law Group. “We understand that the use was previously established under a different owner at this location prior to the adoption of LMC 18.22.095 in 2013.”
A conditional use permit allows businesses to operate under a use that would otherwise not be permitted due to zoning restrictions. The agreement, however, requires them to take mitigating or “conditional” steps. In Spyhop’s case, a lounge and restaurant is a non-conforming use in what is largely a residential area.
But Susan Morgan said that their business isn’t attempting to “establish, modify, or expand the existing use of properties adjacent to residential zoning,” so a conditional use permit wasn’t needed.
“It was in how it was written,” Morgan said. “There was a lot of potential for the city to put regulations on what we could do with the business and the building.”
“It felt like it might be too much,” she added.
Mayor Tim Callison said the Morgan’s attorney complained they had a vested right in using the property as it had been previously established.
“Not that it was onerous or anything else, but that it wasn’t necessary because they already have the right to do it,” Callison said.
Mo’s was a longtime headache for the city council, as the pub was a constant source of complaint among neighbors. Noise, loitering, public intoxication and parking were regular concerns. With the business’s sale, city hall has considered ways to address the issues, from lobbying state regulators to place restrictions on the new business’s liquor license to requiring the conditional use permit process. The city council, however, has voiced restraint, arguing that the businesses are not the same and that Spyhop should be allowed to start with a clean slate.
“I think they have a clean slate and they’ve made some promises to the city about how they’ll operate their establishment,” Callison said. “The city has concern for the citizens and the surrounding neighborhoods.”
The verdict about the conditional use permit isn’t a free pass to do whatever they want. In his letter, Taraday states that Spyhop is not exempt from other subsequently adopted police regulations that govern the operation of the business, as opposed to the establishment of the use, “even if the substance of such regulations address many of the same concerns as those outlined in LMC 18.22.095.”
Those concerns include crime, loitering, public intoxication, disturbance of the peace and other problems that come as a result of having people around establishments selling alcoholic beverages meant for consumption on the premises.
Morgan said they’ve already promised to appease some of the concerns by not playing live amplified music, taking out recycling during the night or receiving deliveries early in the morning. If they do plan to play live amplified music, Morgan said they understand there are necessary steps to go through in order to allow for live music. She added that they’ll be diligent in maintaining open lines of communication with nearby residents.
“We worked with the city and got through the bumpy stuff,” Morgan said. “We’re working hard with the neighbors to make sure they’re happy. We can’t meet all of their requests but we’ll do as many as we can. If they have a problem, we want them to come to us and they can have our cell numbers.”
“We want to be good neighbors,” she added.
