Restaurant David Drake will be replaced by something called The Rail House 1449. New signage went up in the window earlier this week.
Tag Archives: bars
Ice cream shop gets OK, plans for spring 2012
The Zoning Board of Adjustment unanimously approved an application Tuesday night that paves the way to demolish a former tavern and construct an ice cream shop..
Jimmy Biniaris, owner of Piece of Cake Frozen Specialties, told the board he plans to open the ice cream shop by spring 2012. Half of the store would include 13 freezer doors to store items for pick up from his manufacturing facility across the street, with the other half serving as an ice cream shop, he said. All production would remain at the facility across the street at 62 W. Inman Ave., which serves hotels and banquet facilities but also is “retail legal.” Three neighbors spoke in favor of the application.
A few aspects of the application mentioned last night were slightly different from what was reported here last month: there will be no indoor seating area, only a service counter area, and there were 11 parking spaces proposed (not nine as previously reported) but 12 are still required, making a variance necessary. Other variances sought were a use “d” variance for a nonconforming use and bulk “c” variances for front yard setback and maximum impervious coverage.
Decker’s Tavern operated for 66 years at the corner of Jaques and West Inman avenues until it closed in 2006 and als
o was a nonconforming use. Planner Nicholas Sottoes argued that the site is at the edge of the R-2 zone, is more influenced by an adjacent industrial zone, and the proposed residential-retail combination is more consistent with the two-family homes in the area.
Board members had some questions about street parking and traffic. Decker’s had but eight parking spaces while 20 spaces were required considering it had seating for 20 and about 15 bar stools, according to Sottoes, who added that four street parking spaces (one on Jaques, three on West Inman) could be used as well.
Craig Peregry, a planner hired by the applicant, seemed to allay board member concerns about a potential for increased traffic at the four-way stop intersection and street parking. Current volume at the intersection is very low, and low speed, with about 200 vehicles per hour, he said. Trip generation projections at peak hours — weekday evening and Saturday midday — indicated about 14 in and out of the site per hour while the state considers a “significant increase” to be 100+ trips per hour. “The traffic impact is a wash versus the previous use,” Peregry said.
More details about the application, which includes an apartment on the second floor, can be found in this previous post.
Poll results: Favorite restaurant
After a bizarre couple of weeks, our latest poll (“What’s your favorite restaurant in Rahway”) is complete.
Piece of Cake has plans for Decker’s Tavern site
An ice cream shop would replace a vacant package goods tavern if the Zoning Board of Adjustment gives its blessing next week.
8/16 UPDATE: The applicant decided to postpone the hearing until the Sept. 13 Sept. 14 meeting because only six of the seven Zoning Board members were present. A use change requires five affirmative votes.
Decker’s Tavern, at the corner of Jaques and West Inman avenues, closed several years ago and a proposal in November 2007 that sought to build two three-bedroom duplexes was rejected by the Zoning Board, fearing it was too intense for the site. Continue reading Piece of Cake has plans for Decker’s Tavern site
New poll: What’s your favorite restaurant?
It’s been quite some time since our last blog poll, so here’s one that everyone should enjoy. Next time you’re looking for places to eat in Rahway, just check back here, and feel free to use the comments section below after visits to any of these places.
What’s your favorite restaurant in Rahway?
We’ve done polls on your favorite pizza, favorite burger, favorite bar, but with several “Best of” restaurant stories lately, it occurred to me that while we’ve polled readers about the types of restaurants they’d like to see in Rahway, we’ve never blogged about their favorite existing restaurants.
We’ll have the usuals like Luciano’s, The Waiting Room and Cubanu, and others outside of downtown, like Beana’s but since I hate to leave out any establishments, we’re open to suggestions on what places to list in the poll — either post in the comments below or send me an email [rahwayrising(at)gmail.com].
For this poll, we’ll stick to the larger, sit-down places and leave the smaller eateries and takeout joints for another, separate poll. Either way, it gives us something to do during the slow summer months, like while I’m on vacation.
I’ll give you a few days to come up with some ideas and suggestions and post a new poll by next week.
Agreement reached on sewer dispute
The city has reached tentative agreement on a dispute over sewer connection fees for a proposed Irving Street restaurant.
Irving St. restaurant slowed by sewer fee dispute
City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier told commissioners Wednesday night he was told by partners in the Station Bar & Grill that they could not do the project if they had to pay the city’s total calculation. The city doesn’t want to stop the project, he added, but is willing to work within the confines of the ordinance.
The calculation for the connection fee range, set by city ordinance, is based on a property’s historic data and previous occupants. The amount the developers want to pay, according to Pelissier, is about a quarter of the calculation by the city’s construction official. The developers, he added, have shared their calculation with the city and what they think they should be charged.
The Planning Board approved a minor site plan for the 6,900-square-foot project last June.
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In case you somehow haven’t yet heard about “Rahway’s snow babe,” it first appeared Saturday via CNN’s iReport, before getting picked up in Wednesday’s Star-Ledger, and then on and on.