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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us July 28, 2005 Coffeehouse could be closed Neighbors seek to have business’ impact reviewed by reopening a decade-old decision By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings City officials posted a sign in front of the Rogue Valley Roasting House Wednesday, saying the coffee house doesn’t have the right permits to operate. Jennifer Squires | Ashland Daily Tidings Complaints from neighbors, including city councilor Cate Hartzell, about traffic and noise may close the only neighborhood coffee shop in town. Hartzell and other neighbors of the Rogue Valley Roasting Co. wrote letters to the City of Ashland earlier this summer outlining concerns that the business degrades the livability of their neighborhood. City officials staked a sign in front of the coffeehouse on Wednesday announcing a planning action is pending against the business, which owners Jerry and Deborah Quast have operated on the corner of East Main and Eighth streets for more than a decade. A challenge to the legality of their business will be heard at the Aug. 9 planning commission meeting. “I did ask the city to look into whether or not the conditions of this conditional-use permit are reasonable given the amount of business,” said Hartzell, who has lived at 881 E. Main St. since 1990. “It’s the car traffic. It’s not being able to back out of my driveway.” The complaints moved the city to examine the business and revealed the coffeehouse does not have the required conditional-use permit to operate as an eatery in a residential neighborhood. Copies of the complaints could not be obtained by press time. “I love that place and these people throw their hearts into it,” said Alan Foeder, an Ashland resident who has been customer of the coffeehouse for six years. The city examined the coffeehouse 10 years ago to determine if the Quasts needed to acquire additional permits and concluded they did not, according to a letter the couple left on the counter of the coffeehouse. “Based on a formal written complaint submitted to the City, the Planning Department has made an initial decision that over 10 years ago, before it became RVRC, the prior business at this location should have obtained certain other ‘use’ permits from the City,” the Quasts’ letter read. For 57 years the building — a converted house — has been operated as a neighborhood business. The facility was a grocery store until 1991. At that time Sharon Buell opened a deli and catering business at the site, which required a conditional-use permit because the type of business operating out of the facility changed. Buell received a conditional-use permit from the city but did not go through the conditional-use permit process with the city, according to the coffeehouse owners. The Quasts purchased the business in 1993 and opened the Rogue Valley Roasting Co. a year later. Because the coffeehouse was considered a “like business” to a deli and caterer, the Quasts were told they did not need to obtain a conditional-use permit. “The City has reviewed several applications for us over the years we have operated this business and never before raised this issue,” the letter from the Quasts read. The letter urged customers to contact the planning department or attend the August meeting to support the business. The planning commission meeting will look into the permits the coffeehouse has versus the permits a business of its kind needs in Ashland. “I don’t have an end point right now,” Hartzell said. “I would like the planning commission to look at it with a clear understanding of the impact it’s having in that neighborhood.” The owners directed inquires to their lawyer, Alan Harper, who could not be reached for comment. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams