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Si Casa Flores told to change colors Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell The newest Si Casa Flores restaurant will be in Jacksonville, but it won't be this color. After the bright peach appeared, the city reminded the restaurant's owners of color restrictions in Jacksonville's historic district. It will be repainted a terra cotta color. Toni Pocaro paints faux bricks on the window trim. New Jacksonville restaurant meets locals' aesthetic disapproval By MEG LANDERS Mail Tribune JACKSONVILLE - A restaurant of a different color will be opening at Fourth and California streets next week. Si Casa Flores, which is scheduled to open the week of Cinco de Mayo, cannot remain peach-colored, city staff have said. The restaurant will be the seventh in a local chain owned by the Flores family and will serve lunch and dinner, seven days a week, using the same menu as the other Si Casa Flores restaurants. And it will be toned down visually. With the four-day-old paint job barely dry, owner Manuel Flores learned Monday that peach was not in the historical town's color scheme. "I'm kind of glad," said Judith Wells, an employee of Abigail's Antiques on California Street, adding that she gasped when she drove by the bright building Monday. Assistant City Planner Scott Clay said many residents stopped by and called city offices to complain. "Part of the design guidelines include city-approved colors that are at the city (offices)," he said. Business owners in the downtown core area are on their honor to select from the paint color options. Clay said city staffers are not the paint police, until complaints come in. "If someone raises the issue then we have to review it," he said. He said Flores came to city offices in the restaurant's planning stages to look at paint options but didn't take a sample of approved colors with him. The peach color he chose wasn't on the city's list. Flores returned Monday to select an approved color, which Clay described as more of a terra cotta. "I think it's important because all the business owners have to comply," said Wells. "We don't want a big, huge eyesore." Don Wendt, who owns Don's Diggins on California Street, didn't mind the bright color. "I just thought that was an adobe hacienda type appearance," he said. "I didn't have any objection." The building formerly housed the Mediterranean restaurant. With Aztec ruin murals and details, it will seat 72 inside and 50 outside on the patio. The restaurant will announce its grand opening after it's been open a few weeks, said Flores. It will open between May 7 and 12, he said. The Flores family owns two Si Casa Flores restaurants in Medford along with the Mazatlan Grill in Central Point, Taqueria Mexico and Si Casa Flores in Grants Pass and Si Casa Flores in Sutherlin. Fernando F. Serrano, owner of La Fiesta two blocks down on Oregon Street, said he doesn't feel threatened by the competition. "Hopefully there's room for us both," he said. He and his wife Mai, Jacksonville residents, have had their restaurant for eight years. "The restaurant business is tough," he said. "In the end the community of Jacksonville will decide if two Mexican restaurants can survive." Manuel Flores knows it's a risk to open a second Mexican restaurant in the small historic town. "With restaurants you are taking a risk all the time," he said. "It's a small town, but there are tourists in this town." Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.