By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
The transition of a Main Street site that has housed a restaurant for more than four decades moved a step closer to reality this week.
The Yukon Planning Commission, at its March 14th meeting, voted 4-0 to recommend approval of a lot split for a 0.78-acre property at 505 E Main in the Ranchwood Hills Addition – Section 2.
The request was by Joe McKinney Homes, Inc., on behalf of V. Mae Welliver.
Welliver is selling her Main Street restaurant, Mae’s Home Cooking, after 22 years in business. The sale of the building and parking is under contract to close March 24.
A Mexican restaurant is moving in. The zoning will remain the same – C-3 (restricted commercial district).
The lot split was requested so Welliver could keep the east side of the property – which is now a vacant field.
Yukon realtor Joe McKinney told planning commissioners that Welliver is “selling her business and the building there.”
“She’s been there for 22 years,” McKinney said. “The building’s been there for over 40.
“The people that are buying it are going to put a restaurant in.”
Welliver bought the restaurant in late 1999 from Jimmy’s Egg. It previously was home to Ken’s Pizza.
The building and parking lot cover 0.44 acres on the west side of the property.
The 0.336-acre lot to the east retained by Welliver will remain vacant “for the near future,” McKinney advised commissioners.
NO SHARED DRIVE NEEDED
A Yukon city planner’s staff report had recommended the applicant provide a “shared access” agreement between the two lots.
Yukon Assistant City Manager Mitchell Hort referred to the site plan, which shows the existing single-story brick building and parking spaces at 505 E Main.
“If he was the move that driveway over to the right, he’d lose all those parking spaces,” Hort said. “It’s my understanding that some type of restaurant is going in here and will need all the parking spaces it can get.”
McKinney told commissioners the new restaurant won’t need a shared drive with the vacant lot to the east.
“It’s got entrances both on the west side and on the south side coming into the restaurant that’s served the restaurant well,” he explained. “So, we’re not asking for a shared drive. We’re not wanting them (the new owner) to share anything.
“Anything that’s ever built on the vacant lot, they’ll provide their own drive.”
Planning commissioners agreed not to recommend a shared drive for the property after the lot split.
