The Cottage Grove City Council voted 4-1 at the May 17 meeting to deny a local entrepreneur’s application to rezone the property at 7404 Lamar Ave. S. for future use as a restaurant. The council’s decision was an abrupt about-face, considering the recent unanimous 7-0 Planning Commission vote in approval of the requests on April 24. Discussion on the topic stretched over an hour and a half at the meeting, turning contentious at points, with city staff and local residents weighing in on whether or not the restaurant should be approved.

Wayne Butt, the owner of the Old Cottage Grove property in question, was seeking the council’s approval of resolutions for a parking lot setback variance, a minor subdivision to combine three adjacent lots, and commercial rezoning of the property for a different retail business use. The project has been in and out of various planning and approval stages with the city since January 2022.

Primarily at issue in the council’s discussion was the owner’s intentions for the type of business that would ultimately be established on the property if the requested resolutions were approved. Whether the property would be utilized commercially as a restaurant, a catering business, or an event center has been an ongoing question to city staff, as zoning rules vary between different types of business. Butt also owns the Historic Furber Farm wedding/event center on the adjacent lot to the north.

City Attorney Kori Land prefaced the discussion with a detailed history of the project, noting that the declared intended use of the property has changed numerous times since the initial applications were made. The property was deemed by the city to be inappropriate for use an event center, but would be appropriate for a restaurant. She noted that changes to the existing building had taken place without proper permits and stop work orders had been issued.

Land said Butt’s response to the stop work orders was that he was “just repurposing a building for future use, to be determined later.” She added, “Unfortunately, staff must determine what building permits are appropriate and available, and what must be done, based on the use. To say that ‘I’m simply repurposing it or doing some interior remodeling’ is not sufficient for city staff. We need to know what the use is going to be in order to know what rules to apply.”

Pointing out repeated “mixed signals” and that the intended use of the property has circled between being an event center, a catering business, or a landscaping business (as existed there when it was purchased) when the application is currently for a restaurant, Land suggested the council consider whether they believe Butt’s intentions before approving the resolutions.

She concluded, “If you find that he will open a restaurant, we can support a restaurant. If you don’t believe that he will, then I ask that you adopt all four resolutions for denial.”

Councilmember Steve Dennis spoke in support of Butt’s contributions to the community as a businessman, while acknowledging the need to take all things into consideration.

“When you’ve got a community member who’s putting a lot of money on the line, you want to see the right thing be done for people, and not fall into risk.” He added, “Having been in the meetings and having had a lot of different dialogues, the target has moved and I’ve been concerned about that. I’ve talked with Wayne directly on that at different times, and I don’t want to see him make a mistake.”

He stressed that he wouldn’t want to see a business put at that location that would not work, for the sake of the owner and the community.

Councilmember Tony Khambata asked whether the site plans contained a kitchen. Land confirmed there was no kitchen included in the submitted floor plans for the proposed restaurant. Councilmember Justin Olsen expressed support for the introduction of the new restaurant, but had reservations when it came to approving plans that may change again a few months down the road.

Butt was present at the meeting, accompanied by attorney Ryan Kaess.

“We are asking you now to approve this as a restaurant. As of right now, we want this to be a restaurant,” Kaess said. “Mr. Butt owns this land, and if Mr. Butt sells this land tomorrow, that’s really none of the staff’s concern. I have not heard a legitimate reason to deny this application. The staff not believing my client, I don’t think is a legitimate reason.”

He noted that some rules for restaurants have recently changed in Cottage Grove, and that they are trying to comply with every condition as they come down from city staff.

“Do we have some disagreements?” he asked. “Yes. Do we have some disagreements on how the City Attorney has characterized this process? Yes. All of that is water under the bridge. What we are asking you to do, very simply, is to approve this as a restaurant.”

Asked by Khambata why Butt’s purchase agreement was not subject to getting the necessary zoning approvals in advance, Butt replied, “There was no intent to use it as anything. The goal was just to own the properties along Lamar Avenue, along with the Furber Farm, so we can create a barrier around the Furber Farm to avoid noise complaints.”

Two residents from Old Cottage Grove spoke on behalf of Butt’s plans and his character, recommending the council approve the restaurant. Resident Mary Marty spoke against it, saying Butt hadn’t gone through all the proper channels. She suggested that not enough neighborhood residents were informed of the potential for expanded event center use and that they don’t like the extra event traffic in the area, citing buses and intoxicated visitors from out of town. She also implied that Dennis was in Butt’s “pocket” in support of the project, drawing a response from the room and rebuttal from councilmembers.

After considerable discussion, Mayor Myron Bailey laid out his position in light of information offered during the meeting.

“We were trying to work with our staff to make this property work,” Bailey said. “With all due respect to Mr. Butt, the fact of the matter is he did just say up here, and it’s now on the record, that today he wants a restaurant, but maybe tomorrow he’ll come in and apply for another permit to do an event center.”

He also suggested that some of Butt’s recent social media posts confused matters and brought trust into question.

“In this particular case, I can’t vote for this,” Bailey said. “I cannot move forward with a restaurant use with the understanding of what he has publicly said, and the basis of findings of fact from our staff.”

A motion to approve the resolutions was brought by Councilmember Dave Thiede, but a second was not received. A motion was subsequently brought by Khambata to deny approval, which was seconded by Olsen. A vote was called to deny approval of the resolutions, passing 4-1 with Thiede voting nay.