Broad Street Bistro Closer To Opening

Douglas W. Hanson is another step in downtown Pawcatuck following the Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of a special use permit for the location.       

“Almost there,” Hanson said after the board’s unanimous vote Tuesday night at its regular meeting. He said the next step is a building permit to construct a bar even as the application process for a liquor license is under way.

Hanson, a Pawcatuck resident, owns the building at 59 West Broad St., the former site of Neapolitan-style wood-fired pizza restaurant Apizzo—still an active LLC of which he is a partner, though the restaurant, despite good reviews, closed in early 2010.

The PZC approved the permit for a new full-service 75-seat restaurant and bar serving alcohol; Apizzo served only beer and wine. Hanson told the commission the restaurant would close at 11 p.m. and while it will feature a bar, it’s an eatery that serves alcohol, not a bar that serves food. “It will be more of an eating establishment, not a bar. That’s where trouble starts.”

At the PZC public hearing on the application, only one person spoke about the application; Joyce McElhaney, president and CEO of the Pawcatuck branch of the of the Connecticut Community Credit Union, the building next door to Hanson’s site. In business at that location for 60 years, her concern had to do with the shared parking lot and the loss of potential spaces to restaurant-goers. Hanson and McElhaney are at odds over parking though the area is part of the town-approved Pawcatuck Parking Overlay District where parking rules are liberal and there is parking in a nearby municipal lot as well as street parking. Commission members were sympathetic but ultimately suggested the two work together to solve parking issues.

Member John Prue suggested that a parking problem in downtown Pawcatuck is a good sign: “That means there’s business.”

Hanson said he hopes to be open in time for summer.

“We should be able to do that,” he said.