Garden Cafe. Photography by Kathy Tran.

Garden Cafe, a restaurant in Junius Heights, is requesting a renewal of its zoning.

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The restaurant is zoned as specific-use permit, which allows it to operate as a restaurant without drive-thru service and sell beer and wine.

In January 2021, the Dallas City Council approved an 18-month SUP to allow the restaurant to sell alcoholic beverages.

The renewal request went before the City Plan Commission on June 16, 2022.

“I think we’ve proven that we can be trusted and we can be good neighbors,” said neighbor Mark Wootton, the chef and general manager of the restaurant.

No one spoke at the meeting in opposition to the renewal.

City staff recommended approval of the restaurant’s request for a two-year period with eligibility for automatic renewal for one three-year period.

District 14 Commissioner Melissa Kingston called the restaurant the “backbone of this community” and made a motion to approve the request, with the change of extending the SUP term to five years with no automatic renewal.

Kingston said at the meeting she doesn’t normally agree with such a long term for SUPs, but in this case, she thought it was “appropriate.”

“They have demonstrated, in my mind, what it means to be an ideal operator in a space like this, in a community like this,” Kingston said.

All commissioners voted to approve the renewal request. According to the City zoning website, the case is scheduled to go before the City Council in August.