22 September 2008

400 Mascoutah Owners Refile Proposal With Belleville

Two owners of a building in Belleville who had their proposal voted down once by aldermen, are coming back to the city with an altered-hours plan to open a neighborhood cafe. Angela Prosser and Mike Lieb have filed the paperwork and are hoping to see the proposed Cafe 400 through to the aldermanic council again, perhaps with a different result than the vote on September 15th. Just a couple of weeks ago the owners found out that their initial proposal to change the zoning on the big brick building and former bakery from a residential building to commercial had been approved by Belleville's zoning commission, setting up what turned out to be a lopsided vote by aldermen against the change. Neighborhood residents who went before the council were split about the use of the building as a commercial entity, but it appears that some in the area have softened on their stance, including some members of a local historic preservation group. Now, the couple is on hold to see whether the requested variance is allowed in the next series of votes. We'll keep you posted.

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