Is it time for beer and wine at the Boiler Room?

Twenty-one people spoke during a Kalispell City Council public hearing Monday night on whether Kalispell should change the planned-unit development zoning for the eastside coffee house.

Not counting those affiliated with the business, public comment was fairly evenly split. The council took no action, but will consider the matter later this month.

Owners Vince and Charlette Padilla and their daughter, Jasmine McShea, have requested the change to allow the restaurant to serve beer and wine. They have pledged to not sell alcohol until 4 p.m. Their business closes at 10 p.m. most nights.

“If you vote against this, the alternative might be an empty store front,” said James Healow, a Billings attorney representing Vicki Dunaway. Dunaway owns a beer and wine license and wants to transfer it to the Boiler Room from its previous location at Tacos Caliente on First Avenue.

Healow said a recent letter to the editor of the Daily Inter Lake written by Rebecca Groose-Jones included red herrings and hyperbole. Outdoor signs are not required for a business to serve alcohol; there will be no gambling on the premises because that requires a license from the state that the business does not have; and drive-up windows for alcohol purchases have been outlawed in Montana since 1991, he said.

Healow encouraged the council to require conditions of approval in the planned-unit development. He quoted former President Ronald Reagan and told council to “trust but verify” that the Boiler Room lives up to these conditions. One of his suggestions included requiring that no alcohol be sold on the roof or outside the business.

“This is a capitalistic society that rewards people who adapt and evolve,” he said. “You’ve got some righteous business people here trying to do a righteous thing, and you should let them do it.”

Greg Ennis, who lives on Seventh Avenue East, said the Boiler Room “is the wrong place for beer and wine. There are zoning rules for a reason,” he said.

“It’s a slippery slope,” Ennis continued. “What happens when it switches ownership?”

Leann Bechtold, who also lives Seventh Avenue East, said music was played past 10 p.m. at the business last year. “I could not even enjoy my house, my porch and my front yard,” she said.

“They played loud music all summer long ... with numerous calls to the police,” Floyd Bechtold said. “You’d think they’d get the message. If you change the zoning, you’re going to have a bucket of worms you can’t handle, believe me.”

Alex Hogle, a local bluegrass musician who lives on 10th Street East, supports the request. He suggested council allow music to be played on the roof without an amplifier.

John Hinchey, who lives on Fourth Avenue East, said the owners have done “wonderful things to that old hospital. There’s nothing wrong with offering a little ambiance in the evening,” he said.

Sara Palifka said she owns a condo that overlooks the Boiler Room. She initially was concerned that there would be too much noise. “But it hasn’t turned out to be so,” she said. “By 10 o’clock, it’s done. The noise level ... has not been extreme,” she said.

Groose-Jones responded to Healow’s comment about the business possibly closing if it doesn’t get the approval it wants.

“I do not believe that the covenant that the City Council makes with the city with zoning should be changed because of the economy,” she said. “The pursuit of someone’s alcohol should not supersede the rights of the neighbors.”

Although she noted that the business isn’t precluded from serving alcohol because it’s close to a school, she added that it is just outside the 600-foot limit.

“They are 610 feet outside the front door of Hedges School,” she said.

Groose-Jones said the request isn’t about the owners’ character. “It’s about changing a zone in a residential neighborhood and “plopping in a bar.”

Neill McShea, the Boiler Room’s marketer and the husband of part-owner Jasmine McShea, said police officers came to the business on “several occasions” last year as a result of noise complaints. These officers said the business wasn’t doing anything wrong. Despite that, the business turned down the music several times, he said.

McShea said there was “one loud band on the roof” last year.

“We learned from that,” he said, noting that quieter acoustic bands also played on the roof.

Allison Mouch said she moved into the Eastside Brick development after relocating from Virginia. Although she no longer lives there, Mouch believes that noise levels could be addressed in the planned-unit development. She supports the Boiler Room’s request.

Scott Davis encouraged the council to consider requiring that the business not be allowed to serve alcohol to a customer unless food is also purchased. Another option would be to limit alcohol to one serving per customer.

Chris Hall said there’s a possibility the Boiler Room could turn into a bar. “Moose’s Saloon only serves beer and wine, and it’s a bar,” he said. “You mix alcohol into any scene and it changes drastically.”

Carlos Hernandez lives on Fifth Avenue West and jogs through the neighborhood often.

“Children are the biggest victims of alcohol abuse. Serving alcohol across the street from a school would create a very high potential for victims,” he said, noting he recently graduated from an alcohol-treatment program.

Michael Whitcomb, who has an insurance business in Eastside Brick, supports the request. “We’re not going to have a Mardi Gras atmosphere in the neighborhood,” he said.

Noise and serving alcohol are two issues that need to be addressed separately, he said.

The Boiler Room will come before the council again on Tuesday, Feb. 22.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.