Over the summer, the owners of Sal’s Caffe Italia installed a U-shaped service counter around a tree in the space they lease on the Downtown Mall from the City of Charlottesville. They did so without first getting approval from the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services.
“Things on the Mall are supposed to be easily moved,” said Jeff Werner, the city’s historic preservation planner. “If the fire department needs to go down on the Mall, things can be picked up and moved.”
When staff noticed the counter under construction in late May, they had cautioned owner Giuseppe Finazzo that it did not meet guidelines. Finazzo built it anyway and applied for a Certificate of Appropriateness after the fact to see if the Board of Architectural Review would be lenient.
The appointed body had been scheduled to hear the item in September but the matter was removed from the agenda due to confusion about who leased the space.
Since then, Finazzo has reduced the size of the counter by removing two sides, but it was still outside the dimensions allowed for furniture on the Mall.
“Our guidelines suggest a serving counter should be no longer than four feet,” Werner said. “This is nine feet, six inches,” Werner said, adding the counter also exceeds a threefoot height limit.
Finazzo said he has since moved the counter away from the tree and added his staff needs it when busy serving customers. He said he did not know he needed permission.
“You know, what I do over here downtown, I do because I’ve been here over 50 years,” he said. “It’s my family business. I make a living off of it, and I try to do whatever it takes to make downtown look nicer.”
Both representatives from the restaurant expressed frustration about the purpose of the guidelines which they said they had not been told about in the past. Werner denied that was the case.
BAR Vice Chair David Timmerman explains that the guidelines are there to determine what is acceptable in a public space.
“It is a series of regulations to try to maintain the sort of public nature of the Mall,” Timmerman said. “And, if you take it to the Nth degree, it’s like if people really privatize each of their spaces, then, you know, you could imagine a space that’s completely corralled with a solid wall.”
BAR member Ronald Bailey said the BAR may have been able to approve some form of a design if Sal’s had asked for permission first but it was clear the request had to be denied.
“It’s difficult because it’s already there,” Bailey said. “And clearly it is counter to the guidelines. It’s as simple as that for us.”
As the BAR moved closer to a vote to deny the request, Finazzo continued to plead with the group that he could make changes. After the BAR denied the request, he pleaded to be able to keep the counter through Virginia Film Festival weekend.
On Monday, the counter had been removed and replaced with a set of three tables to serve the same function.
The denial can be appealed to Council within 10 business days. That has not occurred as of October 26 and Finazzo has until end of day November 3.
