Prospects appear to be looking good for a new takeout barbecue restaurant to move into Dorr in the strip mall just east of the Dollar General Store along 142nd Avenue.
Gerald Marshall approached the Township Planning Commission Tuesday evening to ask if there would be anything that would disallow his opening a restaurant that would feature outdoor charcoal grilling of barbecued chicken and ribs. He wanted to know if anything in the local ordinance would keep him from opening the business.
Planning Commission members and Eric Thompson of Professional Code Inspections told him there doesn’t appear to be anything for him to worry about and the place he’s going in already is zoned B-2 commercial.
“He can go in there by right,” Thompson told commissioners. “The ordinance doesn’t address that type of activity, outdoor grilling. The ordinance doesn’t address the manner in which the food is cooked.”
Commission Chairman Robert Wagner commented, “I don’t see how you could not allow it,” but some restrictions might apply.
Marshall said he plans to be open five or six days a week and have fewer than 15 seats available inside the establishment, but most of his business will be takeout. The main cooking unit will be an outdoor grill.
“I want to do charcoal and I want to do that outside,” Marshall said. but he added he doesn’t want to inconvenience any residents nearby.
Commissioner John Conklin said, “If you’re not smoking the stuff, you shouldn’t have a problem.”
Marshall still needs the blessing of the Allegan County Health Department and he intends to go over a proposed site plan with Thompson afterward.
COVER PHOTO: The proposed location of a new barbecue restaurant just east of Dollar General along 142nd Avenue.
