St. Joe Tavern

An attempt to resurrect the former St. Joe’s tavern met another stumbling block on March 10. The Planning Commission voted 8-6 to deny a zoning change that would allow the vacant property to once again serve as a tavern.

The same commission voted 12-3 to deny a similar request made by Tracey Morris and her business partner earlier this year.

The Zoning Board of Appeals will take up the matter on April 6. The zoning board previously voted against recommending a zoning change, after which the county board allowed Morris to revisit the matter and try to resolve concerns.

“Taverns have always been the backbone of all small communities, along with churches,” Morris posted on Facebook.

“We bring revenue to the county (and) we have more laws to abide by then you have any idea,” she added later.

Five people from the audience spoke against the measure and Morris tried to address their concerns of parking, trash and loud noise. Morris said she wants to be a good neighbor and has been a good neighbor for nine years with her other taverns, Fourth Street Bar in Waterloo and The Tavern in Maeystown.

The building at 4179 Kaskaskia Road has been vacant for several years after serving as a tavern for decades. Morris has purchased the shuttered tavern with plans to fix it up and open as St. Joe’s Roadhouse Grill. However, the former tavern property is zoned agricultural because it preceded zoning classifications and was previously allowed as an existing use. Anyone wishing to re-establish it as a tavern has to have the property rezoned to commercial.

“(Old taverns like these) have everything to do with people coming down the Bluff Road or down the Cahokia-Kaskaskia Trail,” Morris said. “People need to eat and drink and they love cruising through all the history in the old taverns.”

Meeting attendees who spoke out in opposition expressed concern about events like poker runs, which can draw upwards of 200 vehicles in a day, and previous drainage and grease trap issues with the property.

Morris stated that for events like poker runs, permission must be granted by the owners of the establishments involved, and that she would not approve or welcome poker runs.

As far as questions about drainage on the low-lying ground and grease disposal, Morris reassured those with concerns that she would operate only a small kitchen and her outdoor trash would sit on a concrete slab, so neither concern should be an issue.

Morris also pointed out that neighbors and Zion United Church of Christ, who have all opposed the zoning change that would allow the building to be renovated back into a tavern, had eight years during which the building was for sale to purchase it to ensure its use was something of which they approved.

The issues will next be discussed April 6, at the Monroe County Courthouse, at 7:30 p.m., by the Zoning Board of Appeals. Those who would like to speak at the meeting do not have to be placed on the agenda, they simply must be sworn in at the meeting before speaking.