Daycare proposed in old Mean Mugs Pub site; patio planned at TJ’s on the Avenue in Mentor
Mugs #Mugs
Mentor Planning Commission is holding public hearings on two very different restaurant-related requests this week.
TJ’s on the Avenue seeks a conditional-use permit to offer outdoor dining and drinking at its longtime location, 7485 Mentor Ave.
Meanwhile, Otis Thomas Sr. and Garrett Allen of Mentor Child Care Academy are requesting a conditional-use permit to run a daycare in the former Mean Mugs Pub building at 9055 Mentor Ave.
The commission will review the requests beginning at 7 p.m., April 15, at Mentor Municipal Center. The meetings are now open to public attendance with pandemic protocols.
Mentor Child Care Academy would be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., five days a week, and employ between eight and 13 people, depending on enrollment.
The proposed floor plan includes rooms for four age groups, infant through school age, with a maximum of 70 students.
“We feel this location is strategically positioned to best serve the Mentor community as a whole,” Thomas said in a letter to the city.
The Mentor administration recommends prohibiting use of the front patio as a play area because of its proximity to Mentor Avenue.
Other recommendations for conditions of approval include:
The site was vacated last spring by Mean Mugs Pub after a fire destroyed the kitchen. That eatery is relocating to the old Eat ’N Park site in Mentor.
Other restaurants to use the building have included Pacers Bar and Grille, the Avenue Grille, Cabana’s and Golden Palace.
“The proposed Mentor Child Care Academy is a creative use of a longtime restaurant space to provide another childcare option to our working population in the Mentor area,” Mentor Economic Development Director Kevin Malecek said.
The TJ’s proposal involves adding an outdoor patio with 10 tables on the front of the building, 20 feet deep and 44 feet wide.
The applicant is proposing a decorative black aluminum fence. Black metal canopies would replace the awnings above the windows and entrance along the building front.
The architect has indicated that the existing windows will remain, but the red shutters will be removed, and a new glass front door will replace the existing door.
A landscape bed 5-feet deep would surround the front of the patio and include a row of arborvitae and a mix of flowering plants.
The building was constructed in 1983.
Should the commission approve the conditional-use permit, the city administration recommends making it a condition that the outdoor patio shall at no time become enclosed with walls or a roof.
In addition, the staff said no live music or entertainment should be permitted on the patio, only recorded music via external speakers, and it must comply with city noise laws.