Legion Post 54’s planned gastropub receives favorable recommendation

The American Legion Post 54 in Hobart would be transformed into a gastropub offering wine and whiskey tastings and craft beer under a proposal making its way through city regulators.

The plan commission Thursday gave a favorable recommendation to a request to rezone the property at 208 S. Linda St. from residential to business to the city council. Petitioner Michael Stanczak of Motion Inc. said there would be no changes to the structure of the building and commission members pointed out the building has long been used as a bar and for hall rental purposes anyway.

David Hill, financial officer for the post, said all parties looking at the property are interested in it for business reasons only.

“We desperately need to close on the property,” Hill said.

In other matters, the commission approved a 2-lot subdivision of Becknell Industrial property at 69th Avenue and Mississippi Street, a proposed machine shop and paint booth at U.S. 30 and Utah Street and the extension of the mausoleum and a chapel at the Evergreen Memorial Park Cemetery at 39th Avenue and Montgomery Street.

Joe Halleck, with Becknell, said a company building a warehouse on its 52-acre site decided to downsize, requiring much less space than originally proposed. As a result, Becknell wanted to divide the property to make way for a possible second project.

Petitioner Bud Scheffer said he currently operates a 10,000-square-foot machine shop and paint booth for printing machinery in Crown Point, but wants to downsize and locate in a smaller space.

No action was taken on a proposal to provide outside boat and RV storage and future climate controlled storage at the former Ainsworth School building at 7305 Grand Blvd. At issue was a chainlink fence on the property that commissioners said no longer meets city code.

“We want to block what’s inside your property,” commission member and Councilman Dave Vinzant, D-4th, said of requiring a privacy fence.

Petitioner Alex Kutanovski wanted to maintain the chain link fence with slats added and extra landscaping to block the view. He offered to add masonry columns to the fencing.

While the majority of the commission members present voted to deny the proposal, one member voted against denial. With only five members present, any decision needed to be unanimous to pass.