Downtown Chico restaurant overcomes second hurdle with city hall

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Will Brady, owner of B Street Oyster Co., talks to a reporter on Monday about the challenges involved in opening his business.(Frank Rebelo/Staff Photo)

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CHICO -- After 18 months of construction, all systems are go to open B Street Oyster Co.

Downtown's newest restaurant has passed its fire inspection, light fixtures dangle over booth seats and chalkboards hang waiting for daily menus to be scribbled across their surfaces.

The last remaining step is final inspection for permit of occupancy. After a long battle with the city last year over the restaurant's liquor license, owner Will Brady was hoping for smooth sailing.

Instead, city officials notified him last week the fire escape option in building plans they approved last May and the design he built to was inadequate as planned. Left with no other options and significant investment in the new, nearly finished site, the only foreseeable option was to evict B Street Oyster's tenant, neighboring restaurant Thai Basil, to make way for a fire escape.

"We did not want to build our restaurant on the bones of another," Brady said. "A restaurant can't kill another restaurant to be a restaurant. That's just bad karma."

He filed an appeal of the city's ruling, and after a meeting at city hall on Wednesday afternoon, he was happy to report that a resolution took just one discussion instead of many.

He credited Building Official Nelson George and Community Development Director Mark Wolfe for working to find an agreeable option.

At issue was a secondary fire escape, which is required for restaurants of its size. The building code says the dispersal area for patrons and staff must be on the same lot as the business, which wasn't physically possible.

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Downtown Chico restaurant overcomes second hurdle with city hall