About 50 Lake Minnetonka residents who live near the Old Log Theatre petitioned the Greenwood City Council to reject the theater's proposal to add the patio Wednesday, and a split council agreed with their concerns in a 3-2 vote.
Lake Minnetonka residents objected to the proposal for what would have been Greenwood's first outdoor commercial patio, saying it raised traffic, safety and noise concerns in the residential neighborhood.
"We don't need to bring any more activity to our neighborhood than is already there," said Julie Ekelund, who has lived next to the theater for 21 years.
City staff had recommended the council approve it Wednesday. But the council voted to direct staff to draft findings for denying it.
"Both sides have legitimate rights and concerns," Mayor Deb Kind said before the meeting. "We're supposed to balance their rights."
The theater, which has been around longer than the city itself, hasn't spurred complaints until recent years, according to city officials.
In 2013, Greg and Marissa Frankenfield bought the 560-seat theater from longtime owner Don Stolz and refurbished its 250-seat restaurant. In December, the city's Planning Commission recommended denial of their conditional-use permit application, saying that the patio would have an undue impact on the small neighborhood and that there wouldn't be enough parking for it.
Ekelund said that drunken bar patrons from other restaurants in the area "already spill into our neighborhood. We all want the Old Log to be successful … but we don't want it to come at a cost to our lifestyles."
