IMAGES FROM MEETING PACKET
Site plans drafted by architect Steven Cirile show a scaled down version of restaurateur John Trader’s new, as yet unnamed barbecue restaurant in Berlin, bordering Route 50. Trader apparently had to reduced proposed seating from 145 to 75 to accommodate town stormwater requirements.
By Josh Davis, Associate Editor
(Feb. 21, 2019) Town of Berlin stormwater requirements apparently halved seating plans for John Trader’s new barbecue restaurant.
Trader originally envisioned a 145-seat restaurant and a 5,000-square-foot-plus expansion of the former Taylor Bank building that borders Route 50 and Old Ocean City Boulevard.
The Berlin Planning Commission unanimously endorsed the site plan in November and commission members raved about the potential upgrade of an underused area between the downtown and the highway, which carries millions of beachgoers to Ocean City each year.
Last Wednesday night, the planning commission voted 4-0 to approve the downsized site-plan revision.
Attorney Joe Moore jokingly introduced himself as Trader, but said he was merely sitting in for the restaurateur, who also owns Liquid Assets in Ocean City and Our Harvest in Fenwick Island. With Moore was architect Steven J. Cirile, who drafted both sets of plans.
“The sole change in the concept is a reduction in seating,” Moore said. “We originally had 145 seats. We have reduced those to 75.
“What happened was, we had to comport with all the requirements for stormwater management, including pervious areas, so therefore Mr. Cirile was able to redesign the site around the building in order to comply with the town requirements of the environmental engineers,” Moore added.
Cirile said an ice cream carryout area in the original plan was changed to open deck, while the space beneath would address town stormwater mandates.
“We removed the roof. It’s open deck with some bench seating … and underneath, that is where we put the stormwater retention pond,” he said. “But, we were able to remove enough blacktop to meet all the [stormwater] requirements.”
Moore said otherwise the plans would remain the same.
Trader said in November he wanted to build “the kind of family environment where kids can go in the afternoon and go get ice cream after school, and families can go enjoy a little entertainment into the evening.”
The restaurant would offer traditional southern barbecue with a screened-in porch feature Trader called “really romantic.”
“I think it is a throwback – it’s not drywall. It’s open air,” he said. “All the smells will radiate through the restaurant [with] a little breeze running through there … I can see everybody sitting outside and I could drop a couple of the plastic curtains and still have a little cool atmosphere – very, very casual.”
Trader added the crown jewel would be a “giant open [barbecue] pit.”
Moore, last Wednesday, observed the only thing he missed in the colorful renderings shown to the planning commission was a picture of him enjoying a beer.
However, along with the reduced seating would be a pushed-back opening date, Moore said. Trader originally hoped to open this spring.
“The opening date, unfortunately, is being delayed because of the onset of the season before we’ll get all of our approvals and get ready to build,” Moore said. “Mr. Trader, who many of you know is a very careful and good purveyor of food and beverage, does not want to open in the middle of the season. He wants to provide a good experience for everybody.”
Moore added, “The town’s environmental engineers, by the way, have been very cooperative.”
“I think it’s fair to say everybody was working to find a solution on the problem,” Moore said.
“Very much so,” Cirile added.
Commission member Barbara Stack said she preferred the reduced scale.
“The roofs aren’t quite as sprawling,” she said. “It’s a little bit better scale.”
“I agree,” Cirile said.
Stack moved to approve the site plan revision. Pete Cosby provided a second.
Three commission members, vice-chairman Ron Cascio, John Barrett and Newt Chandler, were not present.