Westphalia aldermen at their meeting last Tuesday denied a request for a business license for a pop-up location for Serendipity Coffee & Tea.   

Serendipity owner Lori Asel had filed for a business license with the city of Westphalia to set up a coffee shop at the same location as the Westphalia Pizza Company on Wednesday mornings.

“Lori has submitted a business license requesting for the startup of a business with the Westphalia Pizza Company,” Mayor Tammy Massman said. “The ‘how it came to be’ was not well-received because the application for the business license was not obtained prior to the actual offering of the service. So, we got a little out of sorts right out of the gate.

“The hiccup becomes that the business is coming to an area that does not offer parking,” Massman continued. “Just like any other business that does not have adequate parking, and with a new entity coming in, following the guidance of our codes for parking needs to be attended to so we can face any hurdles with traffic flow. That variance request would have to be attended to in order to follow through with issuing a business license.”

“This is my building,” Westphalia Pizza Company owner Melissa Conley said. “I’m attempting to sell it. I can’t sell my building without getting a variance because I don’t have parking?”

“Who are you selling the building to?” City Attorney Dougg Stultz asked.

“I don’t have a buyer yet but is this going to be a potential issue for me?” Conley asked. “I operate a business that has never had any parking outside of street parking. It’s always functioned in that fashion. When it was a flea market, a blacksmith shop, or whatever 10 other businesses it’s been its entire life.”

Staltz explained that the building would be grandfathered in as long as it was sold to a like business and the new owners would not have to request a variance for parking.

“She’s not buying my building,” Conley said.

“And I’m not opening a permanent business,” Asel explained. “I’m coming in on Wednesday. I’m only there once a week. It’s like having a food truck. I know I need my business license to come in and do that but it is something that is happening everywhere.”

“I guess the orientation to think of it is (that) we understand that it’s that business but it could be any building,” Massman explained. “Filing the application for a   to be heard among other city residents and who would be directly affected by that traffic.”

“So where is that?” Asel asked. “I’m supposed to meet all of the stipulations on the business license but I don’t see anything about parking. I’ve covered everything on my application. I’ve given everything to the city clerk. The city clerk is supposed to be able to just issue the license. It doesn’t say anything about coming in front of the Board of Aldermen. It doesn’t say anything about parking.”

Stultz reiterated that Asel needed to file for a variance for parking.

“Ok, but I can’t put a parking lot in,” Asel said. “So, a variance is just another step to have a committee say it’s ok to have people park?”

“Correct,” Stultz  said.

“But it doesn’t say in here (pointing to the business license application) I have to have a variance for parking,” Asel repeated.

“You have to comply with the zoning codes as well,” Stultz said.

Asel looked through the business application and read a part of the application out loud: “A business license will only be granted if in compliance with ordinance #2-20 and the zoning code.”

“So, there it is,” Massman said.

“This is where I think everyone is saying Westphalia isn’t friendly to businesses and activities,” Asel said.

“You still have to apply for the variance,” Stultz repeated. “These are the rules we have to live with. They were here before we were.”

“When I got the phone call (from the mayor) and it was 11 minutes of me being chewed out by you, which is very unprofessional,” Asel said. “I told (Mayor Massman) that it was my fault but you lectured me on how (the city) needed the taxes. I’ve lost three weeks of business here which I could have happily paid those taxes. It was an honest oversight on my part. I do these pop-ups in Jefferson City all the time.”

“Did you investigate before you set up shop the requirements from the city to obtain a license from Jefferson City?” Massman asked.

“Yes, I did,” Asel said. “They have a website that makes it easier.”

“Do you also hold a license for the city of Linn?” Mayor Massman asked.

“Yes,” Asel answered. “That is where my brick-and-mortar store is. It’s Osage County. I’m coming back to my hometown. I thought it would be great to serve the people in my community. It was a total, honest oversight. I worked really fast to get (the business license application). I had to wait three weeks for this meeting. Now if I fill out a variance form, do I wait another month? You are going to go another month with no taxes coming from me.”

“That’s what you have to do to go forward,” Stultz  said. “You have to fill out a variance.”

“If I decide to open a coffee shop under my license, which currently owns and operates that building, I don’t have to have a variance because it’s my business,” Conley said. 

“So let me big clear,” Stultz  said. “She (Asel) is renting a space from you, correct?”

“In essence, correct,” Conley said.

“Before she rented the space, it was vacant, correct?” Stultz  asked.

“No, it’s my building,” Conley said. “It’s been my building the whole time. I’ve operated the entire building as the Westphalia Pizza Company. That part of the building has been for storage of my stock and she asked because there is a door. There is easy access, can I use it for this?”

“The interpretation is that she is adding to that,” Stultz  explained. “She’s adding traffic. It is like, in essence, a new business opening up in part of your building, which would require a variance application for parking.”

“So, if I opened a coffee shop, would I need a variance?” Conley asked.

“If you took out your pizza shop and added a coffee shop, you would not have to request a variance,” Stultz  said. “But she’s adding to that.”

“What if I just started selling coffee out of the pizza shop?” Conley asked. “It’s still my building.”

“My interpretation is that she is going to need a variance,” Stultz  said. “We can go through hypotheticals all night but it’s not going to change my opinion of the interpretation.”

“We’re not trying to run businesses out or keep businesses out,” Alderman Stanley Heckman said. “We’re just trying to do it appropriately. File the papers, follow the right steps, and do the right thing. You can’t just come in and set up shop tomorrow. It’s not realistic. We all run a business and we have to take certain steps to make it happen.”

“Maybe the committee should look at pop-up business licenses like Jefferson City,” Asel said.

“We have entertained that in the past but any mobile unit has to adhere to the same business license and receive a letter from wherever they are popping up, “ Massman said. “They have the same guidelines in place.

“It’s not that the shop itself isn’t allowed,” Massman continued. “It’s just that the proper procedure for establishing a business, which I felt was inappropriate, knowing it was being posted and publicized and you have already obtained two other city licenses, to know that the city of Westphalia exists and you are an active community member, to deny the fact that you should have thought to get a city license.”

“You want us to have compassion for what you are doing but you can’t see the other side,” Asel said. “I made a mistake and I apologized for that.”

“How is the city supposed to recoup revenue if we didn’t have proof of the business existing?” Massman asked. “If we don’t have a business license to report to the Department of Revenue?”

“I would gladly have written you a check,” Asel said. “The first words out of your mouth were, ‘I have been inundated with phone calls.’ Really? At 8 in the morning, you were inundated with phone calls by people who were upset I was there?”

Massman responded that she had received multiple calls that morning regarding traffic along the street and questions about the new business.

Stultz recommended that the appropriate thing to do was for the aldermen to approve both the variance and the business license at the same time and recommended that Ansel fill out the variance request application.

“I think I’m not going to do that,” Asel said. “From what I’ve heard so far, I don’t think I want to bring business into Westphalia. I think I’ll pass on that.”