Prince George, B.C.- The new restaurant in College Heights, Original Joe’s, wants to extend the time it can offer alcohol to its patrons but in order to have the application approved, it will need the support of Prince George City Council. Council served up that support on a platter.

While the application only seeks an extension of it’s  serving   time by  one hour on the weekends,  that is  one hour too many for  at least one resident in that area.  A letter  opposing the extension was part of the public hearing at Council this evening.   In the letter, resident Brian Brownridge, says  the "addition of this Restaurant/Bar has increased the  vehicle traffic as well as the noise level considerably in the neighbourhood.  We certainly don’t need to add to that  problem by extending the  operating hours on the weekend for the bar."

A neighbour appeared to address council, Jennifer Suave noted issues with noise, traffic congestion, increased traffic volume, the lack of screening of the garbage disposal area and the failure to remove construction debris. She says the overflow parking is already spilling on to City land, and when the place closes at night, there is a lot of noise.

The manager of the restaurant says the garbage disposal issue has been dealt with, and the landscaping of the property is complete. He notes that staff clean up the area before opening each day, and the application would only call for the extra hour of opening on Friday and Saturday nights.

Council has given unanimous support to the application, with Councilors Lyn Hall and Albert Koehler absent from the meeting.