WOODLAND HILLS : Restaurant Request to Serve Liquor Denied

About a dozen neighbors of the Rib Ranch Bar-B-Q in Woodland Hills turned out at a hearing Friday to oppose a permit for a liquor license there. But before they had a chance to speak, a city zoning official threw out the application, calling it “at best a mistake, at worst, subterfuge.”

The restaurant at 4923 Topanga Canyon Blvd. had applied for a conditional-use exception permit, a first step toward obtaining a license to serve beer and wine with dinner. John Parker, associate zoning administrator, halted the hearing midway through and announced his intention to deny the application. Owners Randall Singer and Mike Ignelzi said afterward they will decide later whether to withdraw the application or appeal the denial.

A conditional-use exception is much cheaper for the applicant than a complete conditional-use permit often required in such cases. Parker said the exception is designed for restaurants with seats for 50 customers or less. The Rib Ranch Bar-B-Q had submitted floor plans showing 50 seats, but Parker said he was suspicious.

“This looks like a 100-seat restaurant masquerading as a 50-seat restaurant,” he said. He noted that several tables inside the restaurant were shown one to a room, each with three chairs.

“The main thing I saw when I looked at the floor plan was tremendous open spaces,” Parker said. “Frankly, I was offended by the floor plan: You would have to be a rube not to see what it showed.”

Singer called the decision “unfortunate” and said Parker had acted on “a few misconceptions.” Most of the restaurant’s customers sit on the outdoor patio in summer, and the indoor rooms are used only in winter, he said.

Neighbors who filed out of the hearing after Parker’s announcement said they would be back to protest if the owners file a new application. One of them, Alan Luke, said residents along nearby Providencia Street are more strongly opposed to the restaurant’s parking layout than they are to the liquor-license request. The restaurant has five parking spaces, he said.