City staff backs change to Ghent PCOs to allow restaurants with alcohol by right under narrow conditions

City planning staff presented a request — initiated by the Ghent Business Association and carried by the planning commission as the body that can amend the zoning ordinance — to allow restaurants with alcoholic beverage service to operate by right in the 20 First Street and Colley Avenue Planned Commercial Overlay (PCO) districts, provided they close by 11:00 p.m. and offer no live entertainment. Staff described the PCO boundaries and the prior history: when the zoning ordinance was adopted in 2018 restaurants closing by 11 p.m. with no entertainment could operate without a CUP, but a 2022 change reintroduced CUP requirements; a 2023 tweak exempted very early‑closing businesses. Staff said the Ghent area has an active business association that can help self‑police problems and that, to staff’s knowledge, the PCO has not experienced the enforcement issues that prompted broader CUP requirements elsewhere. For those reasons staff recommended supporting the text amendment for these two PCOs as a pilot area. Commissioners asked whether businesses that previously caused problems would be affected; staff said that the enforcement issues prompting the earlier changes did not occur in the Ghent PCO area. Staff cautioned that the amendment is narrowly tailored to the two PCOs and that other districts have expressed interest in similar changes since the proposal became public.