New Geneva restaurant gets preliminary OK

After a few questions about parking, outside music and a liquor license, Geneva alderman Monday gave a preliminary OK for a new restaurant in the Third Street shopping district.

Fiora Restaurant plans to move into the first-floor space formerly occupied by the L'Maison d'Elodie store at 317 S. Third St., should it get official approval next week. The building is distinctive, set at an angle to Third Street with a large front yard.

Alderman Chuck Brown wondered if there was enough parking around the building to accommodate diners, particularly during lunch hours. Patrons will have to park along Third or on side streets, as the seven on-site parking spaces will be used by employees.

Geneva's community development director Dick Untch said there is plenty of parking on streets nearby, particularly since the opening of a public parking garage two blocks south in 2007. And lunchtime diners may be people who already are downtown conducting other business, he said.

However, "finding a place right in front of that business should not be an expectation," he said. "They should expect to walk."

Alderman Dorothy Flanagan wanted to know if the restaurant will pipe music outdoors for diners. Untch didn't know, but said music volume is controlled by the city's zoning laws.

The restaurant has to apply separately for a liquor license. It benefits from a 2008 change to the city's liquor code that allows liquor to be served within 100 feet of the educational or worship portion of religious facilities in the downtown business district. The building is 18 feet away from the southern wall of Geneva Lutheran Church.

Last year, church members objected to the liquor law change, fearing restaurant noise would interfere with worship when the church had its sanctuary windows open, or when it conducted worship services on its front lawn. But no one from the church raised any objections Monday to the restaurant plan.