Officials should ease up on West Lafayette bars

You know what the West Lafayette bar scene needs? A beer garden.

For those of you who don't know what a beer garden is, just think of an enclosed outdoor patio, an extension of a bar where friends can gather and enjoy the early evening weather of late summer.

Well, that's what Boiler Room owner Chris Watson thought, too. Only, his vision to offer our community an outdoor (rather rooftop) gathering place is likely going to be blocked.

Following conversations and a little research on this topic — a topic that has prompted criticism and controversy — I found out what we're dealing with here — a tale of two cities — only we're dealing with Lafayette and West Lafayette.

To catch you up to speed, when Watson first looked into the possibility of adding a bar to the roof of his bar/restaurant, he wasn't really met with any opposition. After all, he wasn't attempting to do anything that was against any ordinances.

"All the parking requirements for the current zoning rules say that parking has to do with inside space," Watson said.

That doesn't apply to what Watson wanted to do.

So what do the officials do? They try to amend the zoning code to include parking requirements for outdoor seating before Watson can get a building permit.

They say, however, that the amendment isn't being drafted to block Watson, but rather to clear up what the zoning code means.

As if they didn't know exactly what it meant already — this community just went through this whole debacle not long ago.

When Harry's Chocolate Shop attempted to expand last year, which I thought was a great idea, the city said no because there were no additional parking spaces created. Come on. You can park all the way down Pierce Street and make it to Harry's rather effortlessly. Nonetheless, the Shop was ultimately denied its request for rezoning. I looked at it as preserving a West Lafayette landmark, not broadening a bar — more of expanding on a West Side tradition than increasing capacity.

At any rate, the Shop's plan was shot down and because the regulations were written on paper; there wasn't much they could do. That, however, doesn't make it fair.

Across the river, Lafayette's zoning laws provide exemptions from parking requirements for downtown businesses. So, if one of Lafayette's downtown pubhouses or restaurants wants to expand, no problem. Parking? Forget about it.

This isn't intended to come off as an attack against the city of Lafayette. I quite enjoy it across the river, but why do we have a double standard separated by a river? Isn't what's good for the goose, good for the West Side gander?

According to Lafayette officials, the reason for the exemption is that there isn't any parking available downtown. Excuse me, have you been to West Lafayette lately? There is a parking problem in our community too. But the only reason that it's a problem is because officials don't consider the Grant Street Parking Garage a usable facility for bar-goers. There are all kinds of garages available for parking near the State Street/Northwestern Avenue tavern scene. And, (here's the kicker) they are free and open to the public after 5 p.m. Free up the garages and free our businesses.

But, there's still that ever-lingering bias that city officials have against the bars.

Do you really think that if Subway or one of the Village coffee shops were attempting to do the same thing Watson is trying to do officials would have gotten involved? If you believe they would have, then maybe you need a drink.

The campaign to control drinking by Purdue students isn't a new one. For many years, city officials have been trying to stop the long-standing tradition of Breakfast Clubs. For just as long, they have been unsuccessful.

Now, officials are trying to control the downtown West Lafayette scene in another way. Officials are attempting to restrict (if not stop) all attempts by small business owners to expand.

It's time for officials to stop trying to turn West Lafayette into something it's not. I traveled to several college taverns last year and a lot of them had at least one beer garden (in Madison, Wis., almost all of them have one). Oh, wait a minute, we have one too. We just have to continue to drive over the river to and from to enjoy it, which, I'm no expert, but, doesn't sound safe.

Then again, not many of the recent developments sound as if they're being implemented because of student safety. In a way — whether it's unintentional or not — city officials are encouraging bar-goers to drive. They tell the local pubs they cannot expand without adding so many parking spaces, then they tell the tavern dwellers that they shouldn't drive to the bars anyway. Why does a bar — and let's face it, all Village area eateries that happen to serve alcohol are bars first, and restaurants second — need more parking? You need more parking for a bar like you need more students in your Com class.

But, the West Side bar bias still exists. And until it's gone, small business owners who happen to legally sell alcohol behind responsibly guarded doors, people like Watson, will continue to fight for what those on the other side of the river already have.

Keith Thomas is a senior in the School of Liberal Arts. He can be e-mailed at editor@purdueexponent.org.

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