Chris Simms is CEO and foudner of Lazy Dog dining establishments.
With strategies in limbo for Lazy Dog Restaurant and Bar to find in Brentwood, one councilwoman is asking the council to take a review to see if the city can still cut a deal.
Though the restaurant’s style strategies made the Planning Commission’s consentaneous approval recently, that approval featured a variety of style conditions that the designer, LRG Investors, might not accept, so agents made it clear they would walk late recently.
That’s when Councilwoman Jovita Mendoza actioned in to ask the City Council to reassess the Commission’s choice and attempt to exercise an arrangement.
“I pulled it for review in order to try to find a way to come to a consensus with him (the owner) and salvage the deal because we really want it,” Mendoza said. “I pulled it so that we can have more discussion and find a way to get to a ‘yes.’”
Though the business owner or anybody might submit an interest the City Council within 10 days to reassess those conditions, on Friday a representative from the restaurant said they would stagnate forward with such an appeal.
“We were very excited with the design plans presented at the (Aug. 15) hearing,” Steve Price, Lazy Dog Restaurant and Bar co-founder, said in an email to this paper. “The proposed style was agent of our ongoing brand name advancement and we aspired to serve future visitors in the Brentwood neighborhood.
“It is unfortunate that our plans did not receive approval as proposed, and therefore we cannot move forward at this time. We look forward to our growth across other Bay Area locations and beyond and sharing the Lazy Dog experience with many new communities to come.”
The Lazy Dog Restaurant and Bar has long sought to find in East Contra Costa County. In 2019 it was okayed to build at the Streets of Brentwood shopping mall, however those strategies fizzled after a concern emerged with the homeowner.
Then recently, equipped with a brand-new structured style and a various parcel throughout the street, a proposition for a brand-new, a little bigger Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar made the Planning Commission’s consentaneous approval as did a demand to partition the property for the task.
The brand-new proposition requires a 9,089-square-foot restaurant with a 1,508-square-foot outdoor patio in addition to a 764-square foot waiting location with stone tables and benches in addition to substantial landscaping, consisting of 65 shade trees and 176 parking stalls. The restaurant likewise would boast a 31-foot primary entryway tower and restaurants will have the ability to bring their dogs and consume on the outdoors outdoor patio if they want.
“It’s been many years that Lazy Dog has been working to come to your town and we’re excited to be coming here now,” Jared Taylor, a business agent, informed commissioners at the Aug. 15 conference. “…Lazy Dog really provides the opportunity for guests to go have a Rocky Mountain dining experience. Jackson Hole, Wyoming-inspired is the architecture that we bring to you and that opportunity to go have that Rocky Mountain dining experience without having to drive and leave town.”
Commissioners, however, questioned some style elements, most significantly keeping in mind that equipment on the roof may be noticeable if the parapet is low enough, something staff coordinators and a designer’s earlier evaluation had actually likewise kept in mind.
But Taylor said the business had actually already made modifications to fulfill the city’s demands.
“We’ve changed the rooftop of the tower and all in response to the architect’s comments was really providing four sided architecture to the building,” he said. “You’re gonna see this building from all four sides and there’s finishes on all four sides, you know, it’s really going to be a beautiful building here.”
Taylor likewise mentioned that there was “a huge shakeup” in the building and advancement market throughout and after the COVID19 pandemic, with supply chain concerns and increasing expenses. To keep the restaurant rates cost effective, he said the business has actually needed to make some building style modifications.
Taylor questioned a few of the city’s conditions for approval, stating they don’t concur with them.
“We asked for these conditions to be modified to be in alignment with the city code to require just that the rooftop equipment be screened from view on the ground and we feel that we can achieve that with our current proposal,” he said, keeping in mind raising the parapet height would be too expensive.
But Commissioner Dirk Zeigler said the strategy looks “significantly different” from the initial one.
“We hold our standards pretty high here in Brentwood,” he said.
“We like detail. We expect more and that’s why we ask for it. I look at the things like the windows, where before there were additional detail elements in the windows. That’s all gone.”
Zeigler later on asked that staff make sure that the window information sufficed if the task were authorized.
“Lazy Dog Restaurant, like every restaurant, we cannot stay the same as we once were,” Taylor explained, directing commissioners to the restaurant style for Lazy Dog in San Mateo for contrast. “Every restaurant chain goes through an evolution. This is the building that we’re building now. This is in multiple locations.”
“This is a different building, but this is still a beautiful building,” he included. “ And I think it’s important to look at the building with the landscape as well because there is an abundance of landscape we’re proposing, more landscape than the code requires here.”
Commissioner Spalding acknowledged the restaurant had a right to rebrand however the city likewise had a right to hold its requirements and standards.
Commissioner Rod Flohr said that while he believed the building was “good-looking,” he preferred following the staff’s suggestions to increase the parapet height.
The board later on concurred, authorizing the style and the staff’s suggestions for all however among a list of style enhancements.
The popular chain restaurant, understood for its rustic, Rocky Mountain-influenced style and home cooking, just recently opened a restaurant in San Mateo, which the Brentwood style simulated. There are Lazy Dogs in San Jose, Cupertino, Dublin, Newark, Concord and San Mateo/Foster City.
Brentwood Assistant City Manager Darin Gale said the city is still working to secure a deal.
“Residents continue to express interest in having a variety of new restaurants come to town and Lazy Dog is one of those that they specifically mentioned,” he said in a phone interview. “We’re hopeful that they’ll continue to move a project forward here in Brentwood.”
Check back for updates.
