Commission Approves New Home-Style Restaurant

LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER A new restaurant with home-style cooking will be located on the property once occupied by the old Elizabeth Hospital. It is across the highway from the state park.
LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER A new restaurant with home-style cooking will be located on the property once occupied by the old Elizabeth Hospital. It is across the highway from the state park.

PRAIRIE GROVE -- A new restaurant with homestyle cooking across from Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park will be a family affair.

Jerry Coyle of Prairie Grove owns the vacant land and will build Coyle's Restaurant. Owners and operators of the restaurant will be his parents, Bruce and Patsy Coyle, and his three sisters, Cris Coyle Alexander, Brenda Polson and Kelley Taylor.

Prairie Grove Planning Commission approved the large scale development plan for the restaurant last week, contingent on it meeting the city's sidewalk requirements. A separate landscape plan will be approved at a later date.

Coyle said he bought the vacant land on East Douglas not knowing what he would do with it.

"My gut kept telling me to buy it so I did," he said, adding that as he thought and prayed about what to do with the land, the idea of a new restaurant would not go away.

"Being a member of the community, I knew we needed another restaurant," Coyle said.

Prairie Grove's other restaurants are popular and well-liked but many people also want other menu varieties, he said.

Coyle said he doesn't know anything about running a restaurant but some of his family members do. His parents owned a restaurant with home-style cooking in Winslow years ago. He then talked his sister, Cris Alexander, into managing the business.

The site of the new restaurant is the old Elizabeth Hospital property.

Coyle Restaurant will face the street and have 3,484 square feet, including a patio for customers. The size of the lot is 1.7 acres and the restaurant will take up about one-half an acre.

The plans submitted to the Planning Commission showed a sidewalk in front of the restaurant on East Douglas but did not have a sidewalk along Battle Street, as required by the city's sidewalk ordinance. The submitted landscape plan also did not meet the city's requirements.

Coyle said he would add the sidewalk to Battle Street and submit a new landscape plan.

"As far as landscaping goes, we'll be far and above the requirements," Coyle told Planning Commission members.

The drainage plan showed that the ditch in front of the property would be improved to take care of storm water coming off the development.

Coyle said the restaurant will have a large salad bar and a "blue plate special" every day. It also will have many desserts to choose from.

He's already received so much feedback from residents looking forward to the new restaurant that he thinks it may be too small.

One idea to make the restaurant bigger will be to close in the patio and make it a sunroom that also can be used for luncheon meetings.

The restaurant will seat 100 customers in the main dining area and another 30 customers in the patio or sunroom.

Construction plans are to start "pushing dirt" on Oct. 1 with an expected opening date of Feb. 1. When the restaurant first opens, it will serve lunch and dinner, Coyle said. Operating hours will be 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and open for lunch only on Sundays. It will be closed Mondays.

"In my opinion, this will be a nice place to eat and we want to have atmosphere as well," Coyle said.

He wants the exterior of the restaurant to fit in with the state park across the street. One plan is to have a split rail fence along the front and to give the exterior a more rustic look.

In other action, the Planning Commission approved the final plat for Highland Green subdivision, Phase 2, and recommended approving a rezoning request by Todd Mooney for Belle Meade Phase 4. Mooney asked for the area to be rezoned from R-1.5 to R-1.75 to allow smaller lots. This has to be approved by Prairie Grove City Council.

General News on 09/19/2018