Little O’s North Central

INTRODUCTION

Little O’s (an O.H.S.O. Brewery and Eatery concept) is a neighborhood restaurant with marketplace and take-out services. O.H.S.O. Brewery and Eatery seeks to open a new Little O’s restaurant and marketplace adjacent to the Arizona Canal Trail at the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Butler Drive. An Aerial Map of the Site is provided below (Exhibit 1).

The Little O’s neighborhood restaurant and marketplace will provide a simple menu, quick service, on-premises indoor and outdoor dining, with accommodations for take-out services. The marketplace will sell retail items such as tee shirts, hats, mugs, and other incidental items. Further, the marketplace and take-out service will offer to-go wine and beer sales, which will allow for customers to walk, bike, or drive home with a pizza and a bottle of wine, for example.

We request a Text Amendment to the Historic Canal-Side Restaurant Overlay District to allow packaged liquor retail sales (beer and wine only) and neighborhood marketplace as accessory uses to a primary restaurant use.

EXISTING ZONING AND PROPOSED RESTAURANT USE

The Site is zoned R1-6 with Historic Canal-Side Restaurant Overlay District. A restaurant use has existed on the Site since 1911 when it hosted the original Phoenix Country Club prior to current residential development of the surrounding area. Later, the Historic Canal-Side Restaurant Overlay District was enacted to “ensure the viability of a restaurant business [on the Site] while ensuring that this use does not contribute to the deterioration of the living environment, the downgrading of property values, and the diminishment of the health, safety, and welfare conditions of the adjacent residential areas.” Little O’s will be a benefit to the area, providing a neighborhood-scale walkable, bikeable restaurant and marketplace that has been successful in other areas of Phoenix.

The current restaurant configuration has 2,726 square feet of floor area (including the bar) dedicated to interior dining with 1,877 square feet of outdoor patio dining. Under Little O’s proposal, the interior of the existing building will be reconfigured to reduce the interior floor dining area to 1,986 square feet. The remainder of the unused interior dining area will be incorporated into the marketplace and take-out pickup area.

The existing building entrance facing Central Avenue will be remodeled with a new look and an additional entry/exit on the south side will be provided for take-out service. The canal-side screen wall will be removed, opening the patio up to a newly landscaped area proximate to the Arizona Canal Trail.

Little O’s hours are open daily at 7am till 10pm, midnight Friday and Saturday.

PROPOSED TEXT AMENDMENT

Little O’s proposes amendments to the Historic Canal-Side Restaurant Overlay District are provided below (Exhibit 2).

Meeting and Hearing Information

North Mountain Village Planning Committee Meeting -Date/Time: July 20, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. Location: Meeting will be held virtually. To participate in the North Mountain VPC meeting and PC virtual hearing, see the instructions on the agenda available on the public meeting notices website at https://www.phoenix.gov/cityclerk/publicmeetings/notices. Agendas will be posted on the website one week prior to the meeting.

Planning Commission Hearing – Date/Time: August 4, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. Location: Meeting may be held at the City Council Chambers (200 W. Jefferson St.) or virtually. To participate, see the instructions on the agenda available on the Public Meeting Notices website:
https://www.phoenix.gov/cityclerk/publicmeetings/notices

City Council Hearing/Ordinance Adoption – Date/Time: September 7, 2022 at 2:30 p.m.
Location: Meeting may be held at City of Phoenix Council Chambers (200 W. Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ 85003 or virtual.

For the City Council Hearing participation instructions, see https://www.phoenix.gov/cityclerk/publicmeetings/city-council-meetings

For questions regarding the format of these meeting/hearings, please contact the Staff liaison listed below.

The North Mountain Village Planner is Nick Klimek at the Phoenix Planning & Development Dept.
Nick can be reached at:
Nick.Klimek@phoenix.gov
602.534-7696