Columbus sports bar Yo’ Bar will move from its Highway 45 location to a larger building on Bluecutt Road early next year thanks to a 4-2 decision by the city council at its regular meeting Tuesday.
But that decision came after two public meetings and several hours of discussion among Yo’ Bar owners Ledrico and Mignon Isaac, public officials and area business owners, many of whom raised concerns about the traffic, trash and possible crime they feel will follow their new neighbors to Bluecutt.
Ledrico Isaac told The Dispatch he and Mignon have been looking for a new location for Yo’ Bar for about two months. Lee Stafford, who owns the building that formerly housed The Columbus Boat Gallery, reached out to them about leasing the building to them with an option to eventually purchase. Since the move would take Yo’ Bar from a 99-person capacity to a more than 160-person capacity, and give the business a bigger parking lot, the Isaacs jumped at the opportunity.
“It’s real frustrating that a business owner … would try to knock another business owner for trying to grow,” Ledrico Isaac said.
Arguments for and against relocation
The stretch of Bluecutt already home to banks and medical offices is zoned a C-1 commercial-residential district, according to city Planning and Zoning Commission chair Kevin Stafford, who also serves as city engineer. Per city zoning ordinances, bars must obtain a permitted use variance from the Planning and Zoning Commission in order to locate in a C-1 zone, and the city council must then approve the variance.
The Planning and Zoning Commission met via Zoom on Monday to discuss the issue, and multiple business people with offices on Bluecutt were present to voice their opposition, including Realtor Doris Hardy, of CENTURY 21 Doris Hardy and Associates, and Columbus attorney Rod Ray, who represented Lee Enterprises and the Lee Foundation, which has several business offices on Bluecutt. Despite their objections, the committee voted 5-2 to grant the variance.
Hardy and Ray argued at both Monday’s Planning and Zoning meeting and at Tuesday’s city council meeting that the move was fundamentally at odds with the city’s zoning ordinance, which states the location of a bar, tavern or lounge moving into a C-1 district must be “harmonious” with existing businesses in the area.
“Is there any part of this establishment that is conforming and homogenous with this corridor?” Hardy asked The Dispatch before Tuesday’s council meeting, pointing out that it would increase traffic in the area and possibly result in littering and more police calls.
She said she would have opposed any restaurant coming to Bluecutt, not just Yo’ Bar.
Columbus attorney Wilbur Colom represented Lee Stafford and the Isaacs at both Monday’s and Tuesday’s meetings, where he promised the Isaacs would have ample parking, a fence that would prevent most trash from getting onto the road, as many as 25 security guards on site to monitor safety and a person directing traffic on nights when the bar has an exceptionally large number of customers — the last of which Colom said would be a rare occurrence. He further argued that the definition of “harmonious” as used to apply to zoning issues, had mainly to do with architectural and aesthetic similarities between businesses in an area.
But Ray countered that the fact that Yo’ Bar needed a variance at all proved they were not “harmonious” with other businesses on Bluecutt Road.
“Name one other business: Bank of Vernon, the nephrology clinic? Do they have guards at night? Do they have people directing traffic?” he argued. “No, because that’s not what goes on in this area.”
Ray said he had found 27 incident reports since the beginning of the year that listed Yo’ Bar, including one disorderly conduct/inciting a riot call and one discharge of a firearm in the city limits.
Ledrico Isaac told The Dispatch the discharge of a firearm actually happened behind Yo’ Bar’s current location after the bar had already closed for the night — it stays open until 11 p.m. on weeknights and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday — while Colom argued the majority of other incident reports included business checks and examples of drivers on Highway 45 being pulled over for traffic violations and happening to pull into Yo’ Bar’s parking lot.
He argued a restaurant/bar moving to the Bluecutt area is no different than Zachary’s or the Trotter Convention Center locating in downtown Columbus — also an area with high traffic, nearby residences and professional businesses like law offices nearby.
“Every business downtown has to adapt to that,” he said during Tuesday’s council meeting. ” … They can exaggerate everything. You can fathom any scenario of anything that could go wrong and claim that that’s a basis (against the move) but there’s no reasonable facts, no reasonable showing there will be a traffic problem, that there will be any harm to anybody across the street.”
Council reaction
Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box, one of the councilmen who opposed the variance, said in 12 years of serving on the council he has never opposed the Planning and Zoning Commission, but he did in this case because the Bluecutt location is near residences.
“This is one time that I honestly believe that they have made a mistake,” he said. “The zoning laws are to protect neighborhoods. Mr. Colom and some of them are saying that it’s harmonious, but … they’ve neglected that harmonious means with the people, not just with the businesses.”
Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin, whose ward includes both Yo’ Bar’s current and planned locations, said sports bars like this have given the city continual problems.
“I ask the other council members, would you want this in your ward?” he said.
He moved to table approval of the variance so that other business owners in the area could weigh in. However, the motion died for want of a second.
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard, however, voiced support for Yo’ Bar, pointing out the American Legion has a bingo hall in the area that is significantly bigger than Yo’ Bar.
“I’m hearing everything that everybody’s saying,” he said. “I’m hearing concerns about the trash. The owners have gave us their word. … That’s the only thing we can go off is their word, and their word is that we won’t have an issue. … As far as the traffic issues, it brings up many other issues when you have traffic areas. A law officer is always present when there’s a congested amount of traffic, no matter if it’s a business or if it’s a wreck in the middle of 45.”
He moved to approve the variance. He, Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Taylor, Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens and Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones all voted to approve the ordinance, while Box and Gavin opposed.
Ledrico Isaac said he and Mignon hope to meet with Hardy and other businesses to work out their differences, which Hardy indicated she would be open to, though she still opposes the move.
“Hopefully we can change her perception and change her mind about the business that we’re doing coming to Bluecutt,” Ledrico Isaac said. “It’s not going to downgrade (the area). If anything it’ll upgrade it. It’ll make people want to come here.”
Disclaimer: The Dispatch has hired Ledrico Isaac for freelance photography work in the past.
Conflict disclosure: Managing Editor Zack Plair took part in editing this article. He is currently involved in legal proceedings with the city of Columbus.
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