Teresa O'Brien, the owner of the Celtic Cafe, had been worried that she might have to close her restaurant if officials forced her to provide parking.
But the City-County Planning Board voted yesterday in favor of waiving parking requirements for the restaurant at 924 S. Marshall St., approving her request to have the property at rezoned from highway business to pedestrian business.
The restaurant does not have a parking lot of its own. Customers have been parking at the Hewitt Business Center across the street, at the Enrichment Center next door, in the adjacent parking lot of the former Authorized Appliance Service Center and on Poplar Street.
O'Brien said during the board's meeting that the Enrichment Center has said that Celtic Cafe can use its parking lot after 5 p.m. as long as there are no functions at the center.
"I feel that the prevailing zoning in the area is pedestrian business," she told the board.
"Having us zoned as highway business really poses a hardship at this point."
She said that a lot of people in the area walk to the restaurant, which has been at its current address since 2008.
Margaret Snyder, the property manager for the Hewitt Business Center, opposed waiving the parking requirements for the restaurant.
"The Hewitt Business Center has grown tremendously in the last year, and the parking is needed for our tenants and customers that we serve," Snyder said.
She also said she wanted to make sure that the business center was following the city code for having ample parking for its tenants and customers.
David Reed, a principal planner for the City-County Planning Department, said that the business center would not have any parking requirements because of its age.
The board also voted to request that the city's transportation department look at creating markings for on-street parking spaces near the restaurant.
In other business, the board approved the rezoning of a half-acre at 2065 Bethabara Road in northern Winston-Salem from single family to multifamily for access across the property.
Bethany Pointe LLC plans to build 48 apartments there.
Both petitions will now go before the Winston-Salem City Council.
fdaniel@wsjournal.com
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