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Bar allowed to add two patios

Jack's Roadhouse
Thursday, November 29, 2018

It took about 45 minutes of discussion and input from both residents and business owners, but Jack’s Roadhouse got the go-ahead from P&Z to add two patios.

At its meeting Tuesday night, the Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing and a vote on a conditional use permit that would allow Jack’s Roadhouse, located on the corner of Hunter Road/Hopkins Street and San Antonio Street, to expand the area where alcohol is served by adding two patios. One would be on the front of the building, along Hunter Road, and the other patio would be on the other side of the building. Jack’s currently has 40 outdoor seats; owners said the planned expansion would almost double that. The owners also wanted to put in a glass garage door-style passageway from the enclosed building to the patio on Hunter Road.

Several residents from the Greenpointe area, on the hill behind Belvin Street near Jack’s, spoke in opposition to the expansion, expressing concerns about noise. City staff said they had some concerns about noise as well. Staff recommended that Jack’s be allowed to expand but without the patio and garage door on the Hunter Road side of the building, and on the condition that there will be no live music outdoors. Staff also recommended that the permit be good for one year. 

“We didn’t plan on having any live music outside,” Jack’s owner Phillip Nadeau said, explaining that the only music at the bar is indoors, with speakers facing toward the bar. “We wouldn’t be changing any of that.”

Nadeau and his business partner Rocco Moses said the glass garage door would allow people to see inside Jack’s and generally make the building more welcoming.

“It’s a place that they can feel welcome and they can go inside, and it’s clean,” Nadeau said.

Nearby residents still had concerns about noise and an increase in traffic that would come with the expansion of the seating area.

Tory Carpenter from the city’s planning department read from a letter from San Marcos Police Chief Chase Stapp, who said he had “no concerns unless they plan to put live or amplified music on the patios.”

The commission approved an amendment to the permit that would require the garage door to be closed at 9 p.m. to alleviate music and other noise that might come from inside Jack’s.  

Commissioner Angie Ramirez pointed out that with a one-year permit, if the conditions at Jack’s still created too much noise for the neighbors, P&Z could revisit the issue when the permit comes up for renewal. 

In other business, P&Z approved a permit that would allow the sale of beer and wine for on-premise consumption at Toma Taco, which will be located in the old OST Liquor building on the corner of South LBJ and Edward Gary. The commission made an amendment to the permit that would require the new restaurant to keep the same hours for any outdoor amplified music as Aquabrew, which is located just up the street. 

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666