Do bars and daycares mix?

A controversial request by a Columbus businessman to open a bar next to a popular daycare is scheduled to go before the Auburn City Council Tuesday.

The Auburn Planning Commission endorsed the proposal in a 6-3 vote March 12.

Brandon Haynes wants to renovate the building at 214 N. College St. and turn it into a bar called Flip Flops. Hardy’s Creative Childcare is located next door at 222 N. College St.

Carl Morgan, Auburn’s assistant planning director, said city ordinances do not require a separation between bars and schools and churches.

Since the commission meeting, opponents have written letters to the editor of the Opelika-Auburn News and contacted city councilmembers.

They also started an online petition to “Save Hardy’s Daycare.” It has garnered 547 signatures from across the country by Saturday afternoon.

Parents like Beth Guertal, Leslie Kerth and Chad Bailey, who send their children to Hardy’s, are concerned about the children encountering glass bottles and other trash from the bar on their playground. They also believe the daycare’s proximity to a bar could damage its longstanding reputation.

Bailey, a father of three, wrote a lengthy letter to city councilmembers on the online petition. In it, he said the bar would only exacerbate the problems other downtown businesses already have with the bars on College.

“There are a lot of positives about a business going in there,” said Guertal, the mother of Will, 8, and Sam, 6. “It would be nice for that end of town. I just wish it wasn’t a bar.”
Kerth said a bar at that location could jeopardize the daycare’s accreditation.

“We should have new businesses, but you’ve got to stop and think about the message you are sending to children and visitors if you allow a bar to locate next to a daycare,” Kerth said. “Aren’t we the loveliest village on the Plains? To me, that’s not very lovely.”

Surprised by outcry

After renovating an old building in downtown Columbus to open a bar called Flip Flops, Haynes was interested in doing the same here in Auburn. However, he didn’t expect the public outcry.
“It’s their right (to speak out), but I didn’t realize I was going to cause such a stir,” he said. “Had I known, perhaps I would have avoided the ordeal altogether.”

Haynes may have gotten what he wanted from the planning commission, but he said being threatened by a parent after that meeting made it altogether “one of the worst experiences of my life.”

Haynes said he’s tempted to either ask the city council to table a decision for a month so he can develop a more definitive plan, or ask them to forget the idea completely.

Because “this is more drama than I ever wanted,” Haynes said he is looking at other options for his business. He would not say if the other locations were in Auburn.

“But if that (College Street) is the best spot, I will do my best to open there,” he said.

Margaret Brown, the owner of the building at 214 N. College, said she’s been approached by a number of people over the years about renting the downstairs space. Her law office has been on the second floor since 1982. When Haynes approached her about a lease, she said he had a well-devised plan to rehabilitate the downtown space, which hasn’t been used since the Freewheeler Bike Shop closed in 2003.

“I think it would be an asset to the whole downtown area,” Brown said.

Brown said the building has been a part of her family since her grandfather built it around 1938 and made it a general store with student housing on the second floor.

Since the Freewheeler left, Brown said she has not solicited a new tenant, but she said Haynes’ plan would be a “great improvement” to the old structure. She doesn’t think his business would conflict with the daycare, nor would it create problems with trash, traffic or parking, like the parents say.

Mayor to vote no

“It is in my experience that the problem is, in bars in particular, while they can control their clientele within their walls, it’s mighty hard once they leave,” said Auburn Mayor Bill Ham. “It’s almost impossible to control.”

Ham and Councilmember Sheila Eckman said they received a number of e-mails from citizens about the issue and none were supportive of the bar. Other councilmembers did not respond to the Opelika-Auburn News. According to a city map, the property in question is in Ward 4, represented by Brent Beard.

Although city officials say a lounge can locate in the space, which is in the College Edge Overlay District and is therefore subject to the requirements for Urban Core zoning and additional CEOD requirements, Ham said the council has the right to add any conditions to the request or turn it down completely. He said he plans to vote ‘no’ Tuesday.

“Other businesses that neighbor bars have had difficulty over the years,” Ham said. “Bars are not the best neighbors for everybody.”

Haynes, the father of a 1-year-old boy, said he tried to accommodate parents’ concerns at the commission meeting by agreeing not to open during the daycare’s hours, to provide extra security, and to put blinds in the windows to disguise the type of business inside when the daycare was open.

But that wasn’t enough for Kerth, the mother of Nathan, 5. She said she dismissed his proposals once she heard other developers at the meeting saying there were a number of alternative locations available in the city for Haynes’ business.

Haynes said he has done nothing wrong.

“I don’t think we are bad people, but this isn’t the way I wanted to do this. This is not how I wanted it to be,” he said. “I hope something works out where we don’t have these issues. There’s got to be a way we can co-exist.”