Charlie's Restaurant Looks to Expand Parking Lot

The owner of the popular is considering the expansion of the parking lot of the business to alleviate parking along California Street in St. Clair Shores.

Owner Bob Markaj requested the rezoning of property behind his Harper Avenue restaurant to allow him to purchase an existing house, raze it and expand the current lot to include 23 additional spaces.

"The main (reason) is to relieve California street from the traffic," Markaj said. "The restaurant is very busy with customers and employees parking there."

The request to rezone the property was to be considered by St. Clair Shores City Council on Monday, but was removed from the agenda after the planning commission failed to get a majority vote on the issues last week.

The request died after a motion by the planning commission to table the request and a motion to approve the rezoning both failed. 

Residents expressed their concern to the commission about the impact of the current parking, traffic and truck parking.

Commissioners urged St. Clair Shores to plan a meeting between the residents, business owner and representatives from the planning department to meet and share their concerns.

"I don’t think it would be a waste of anybody’s time to get people on both sides of issue to come together," said commissioner Paul Doppke.

No date has been set for the meeting.