El Rancho president and primary owner Alfredo Melendez (right) addresses the Zeeland City Council regarding the restaurant’s liquor license application Jan. 20, as his son, Adrian Melendez, listens.
By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
A Mexican restaurant that is planning to open in downtown Zeeland this spring is moving closer to being approved to serve alcohol.
The City Council on Jan. 20 voted unanimously to recommend approval of a Class C liquor license, a Downtown Development Authority/Redevelopment license and a Specialty Designated Merchant license to El Rancho, which is planning to open a 132-seat restaurant
inside the 17 E. Main mixed-use development at the northeast corner of Main Avenue and State Street. Those licenses would allow the sale of alcohol for consumption both inside and outside the restaurant.
The Michigan Liquor Control Commission is expected to approve El Rancho’s license applications. The city’s Planning Commission last September approved a special land use for El Rancho, which was required because of its desire to serve alcohol at the restaurant. The property is zoned C-2 central business district and is located within the city’s alcohol overlay district.
Family-owned El Rancho already operates restaurants in the city of Holland, Holland Township, Greenville and Ludington. It is expected to open its doors at the 17 E. Main location in seven-to-eight weeks, said Adrian Melendez, son of restaurant president and primary owner Alfredo Melendez.
El Rancho submitted its application for the liquor licenses to the city Dec. 17, City Manager Tim Klunder said.
At the Planning Commission public hearing last September, several neighboring property owners objected to the special land use and site plan for El Rancho because they believe there isn’t adequate parking to serve the restaurant. Since then, the city’s Community Development Department did a study measuring parking capacity near the restaurant that is under city ownership.
That study found 136 parking spaces in the immediate vicinity of El Rancho - 47 on site, 37 in the city-owned lot at 46 E. Main Ave., 17 on-street spaces on Main from State to Elm Street, 17 on Elm from Main to Washington Avenue and 18 on West Main within one-eighth of a mile of the restaurant. The city did not factor in lease arrangements that it has with North Street Christian Reformed Church and Huntington Bank in that analysis, Klunder said.
“They are not required to provide their own parking because they are in the downtown, but we did want to show in case it did come up (for discussion), we feel there is more than enough shared parking in our downtown to service that facility,” Klunder said.
In a memo to Klunder, Community Development Director Tim Maday wrote that if the 17 E. Main development were located outside downtown and therefore subject to the city’s parking ordinance, 135 spaces would be needed to serve that building. That estimate, Maday wrote, “assumes full occupancy of all 22 residential units, the salon operating at full capacity (including both active and waiting customers), and the restaurant operating at its maximum permitted occupancy simultaneously.”
The city’s alcohol ordinance prohibits the sale of alcohol within 500 feet of a church or school. North Street CRC falls within that 500-foot boundary. However, the ordinance also gives the City Council the ability to waive that restriction if the council deems such action is in the best interest of the city.
“When we set up the alcohol sales overlay district, that committee was very thorough in their review of where they felt properties should be included within the alcohol overlay district, and this is one of them,” Klunder said. “Secondly, under council’s priorities, a restaurant of 100 or more seating capacity is your second priority downtown.”
No objections were raised to El Rancho’s applications during the public hearing at the Jan. 20 meeting.
“We’re very excited for you to be here, and to invest in our town,” Mayor Rick Van Dorp said.
El Rancho is expected to become the second restaurant in Zeeland to take advantage of a change in the city’s alcohol ordinance, approved by council last November, that allows alcohol to be sold on Sunday. While El Rancho plans to open at 11 a.m. on Sunday, it cannot begin serving alcohol until noon under the ordinance.
Under El Rancho’s articles of incorporation, Alfredo Melendez owns 40 percent of the business while three other partners – Martin Bernal, Antonio de Jesus Bernal de la Paz and Victor Manuel Bernal de la Paz – each own a 20 percent share, according to city documents.
El Rancho’s business hours are expected to be Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., according to the restaurant’s liquor license application.
Zeeland Record
A Mexican restaurant that is planning to open in downtown Zeeland this spring is moving closer to being approved to serve alcohol.
The City Council on Jan. 20 voted unanimously to recommend approval of a Class C liquor license, a Downtown Development Authority/Redevelopment license and a Specialty Designated Merchant license to El Rancho, which is planning to open a 132-seat restaurant
inside the 17 E. Main mixed-use development at the northeast corner of Main Avenue and State Street. Those licenses would allow the sale of alcohol for consumption both inside and outside the restaurant.
The Michigan Liquor Control Commission is expected to approve El Rancho’s license applications. The city’s Planning Commission last September approved a special land use for El Rancho, which was required because of its desire to serve alcohol at the restaurant. The property is zoned C-2 central business district and is located within the city’s alcohol overlay district.
Family-owned El Rancho already operates restaurants in the city of Holland, Holland Township, Greenville and Ludington. It is expected to open its doors at the 17 E. Main location in seven-to-eight weeks, said Adrian Melendez, son of restaurant president and primary owner Alfredo Melendez.
El Rancho submitted its application for the liquor licenses to the city Dec. 17, City Manager Tim Klunder said.
At the Planning Commission public hearing last September, several neighboring property owners objected to the special land use and site plan for El Rancho because they believe there isn’t adequate parking to serve the restaurant. Since then, the city’s Community Development Department did a study measuring parking capacity near the restaurant that is under city ownership.
That study found 136 parking spaces in the immediate vicinity of El Rancho - 47 on site, 37 in the city-owned lot at 46 E. Main Ave., 17 on-street spaces on Main from State to Elm Street, 17 on Elm from Main to Washington Avenue and 18 on West Main within one-eighth of a mile of the restaurant. The city did not factor in lease arrangements that it has with North Street Christian Reformed Church and Huntington Bank in that analysis, Klunder said.
“They are not required to provide their own parking because they are in the downtown, but we did want to show in case it did come up (for discussion), we feel there is more than enough shared parking in our downtown to service that facility,” Klunder said.
In a memo to Klunder, Community Development Director Tim Maday wrote that if the 17 E. Main development were located outside downtown and therefore subject to the city’s parking ordinance, 135 spaces would be needed to serve that building. That estimate, Maday wrote, “assumes full occupancy of all 22 residential units, the salon operating at full capacity (including both active and waiting customers), and the restaurant operating at its maximum permitted occupancy simultaneously.”
The city’s alcohol ordinance prohibits the sale of alcohol within 500 feet of a church or school. North Street CRC falls within that 500-foot boundary. However, the ordinance also gives the City Council the ability to waive that restriction if the council deems such action is in the best interest of the city.
“When we set up the alcohol sales overlay district, that committee was very thorough in their review of where they felt properties should be included within the alcohol overlay district, and this is one of them,” Klunder said. “Secondly, under council’s priorities, a restaurant of 100 or more seating capacity is your second priority downtown.”
No objections were raised to El Rancho’s applications during the public hearing at the Jan. 20 meeting.
“We’re very excited for you to be here, and to invest in our town,” Mayor Rick Van Dorp said.
El Rancho is expected to become the second restaurant in Zeeland to take advantage of a change in the city’s alcohol ordinance, approved by council last November, that allows alcohol to be sold on Sunday. While El Rancho plans to open at 11 a.m. on Sunday, it cannot begin serving alcohol until noon under the ordinance.
Under El Rancho’s articles of incorporation, Alfredo Melendez owns 40 percent of the business while three other partners – Martin Bernal, Antonio de Jesus Bernal de la Paz and Victor Manuel Bernal de la Paz – each own a 20 percent share, according to city documents.
El Rancho’s business hours are expected to be Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., according to the restaurant’s liquor license application.
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