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Alexandria City Council denies restaurant move

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Harry Keaney

City council members in Alexandria, Va., have voted 6-1 against granting Offalyman Pat Troy a special zoning permit for a building on North Lee Street, to which he hoped to move his Ireland’s Own pub and restaurant.

The only council to vote for Troy was William C. Cleveland.

A disappointed Troy said he did not know why the city council voted against him. "I think they went with the gang, they went with a clique," he told the Echo.

The Alexandria planning commission had previously voted against allowing Ireland’s Own to relocate, despite Troy’s agreement to adhere to certain restrictions.

Troy’s intended move — two blocks from North Royal Street to 106 North Lee St. — aroused widespread media coverage because of allegations of anti-Irish bigotry in a campaign against Troy’s application. Troy’s main opponent was the Torpedo Factory Condominium Association, a group that takes its name from a former torpedo factory building that is now an arts center.

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What particularly fueled emotions in this row was the language used in flyers. At the city council meeting, an opponent of the proposed move by Ireland’s Own wrote a message on a petition from the Torpedo Factory Condominium Association which read: "We enjoy Old Town Alexandria, not Georgetown! Our concentration of drinking establishments is the highest in the city — please keep the noisy, vomit-prone, drunken, urinating, littering trespassers away from us!"

Some weeks prior to this, a flyer headed "the residences at the Torpedo Factory," was circulated, stating:

€ Ireland’s Own is not just a bar, it is an Irish bar.

€ The proposed move by Ireland’s Own would "affect our property values and therefore our taxes."

€ "Public rowdiness from patrons leaving other bars has forced residents, on numerous occasions, to call the police. As incident reports go up [as they surely will], our resale value will go down."

The flyer also listed other objections to Ireland’s Own intended move, pointing out that there are 18 alcohol-serving establishments within one block of the Torpedo Factory condo, and many within a half block. Ireland’s Own would be the only one directly across the street from the condominium building.

Another flyer described the relocation of Ireland’s Own as "a neighborhood nightmare," and, in urging people to attend a recent planning commission meeting, said, "If you don’t show up to protest, you’ll have no one but yourself to blame when your front yard becomes a late-night urinal."

Troy said the statements made about his bar "really hurt" him. "All the lovely people who had been coming into my place were categorized as these nasty people," he said, "and city officials did not condemn this."

Thomas Gilligan, the national president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, wrote to Mayor Kerry Donley. "We object to no one exercising their rights as property owners, but we do object in the strongest terms to what amounts to a smear campaign against Mr. Troy, his patrons and a 20-year reputable record," Gilligan said.

Controversy

Perhaps never before had there been so much controversy or interest in whether the board would approve a special-use permit, according to the Washington Post newspaper. An overflow crowd jammed the Alexandria council chambers well into the night and more than 40 people stood up to express an opinion on Troy’s application.

Even those who were vehemently opposed to Troy’s proposed move heaped praise on the man who founded Alexandria’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade 18 years ago. (The parade takes place this Saturday at 12:30 p.m.)

Troy also helps run the city’s Irish Festival every summer and the local chapter of Project Children.

Mayor Donley called his vote on Troy’s application one of the hardest decisions he had faced, noting his friendship with Troy and their common heritage. "My heart tells me to support this application," Donley said. "My head, however, tells me this is a mistake."

In the end, according to the Washington Times, it was parking, not ethnicity, that was the critical issue that turned council members against Troy’s plans.

Troy, however, does not accept this. "Parking is a problem in this city and will always be a problem because the city council has done nothing to rectify parking in Old Town," Troy said. He added that there was huge revenue coming from parking violations.

Troy said he himself never had a problem with parking. There are, he said, 246 parking places under his restaurant and 116 spaces on an upper level.

Troy said that his proposed move to North Lee Street was now a dead issue.

He is negotiating with his current landlord in the hope that they can agree on a rent to enable him remain in his current location.

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