The Richardson City Planning commission voted to recommend a special permit to allow a smoking area at Nay Restaurant and Coffee to operate a hookah lounge on the restaurant’s patio at a July 15 planning commission meeting. Richardson City Council will make the final decision at a future council meeting.
Some background
The Iraqi and Mediterranean restaurant opened in April between Alamo Road and Central Expressway. The business has operated solely as a restaurant since they opened.
In 2011, Richardson changed the zoning code to include “smoking establishments,” where a business must obtain a special permit to sell tobacco or allow smoking on the business property, city documents state. Smoking establishments include cigar and hookah lounges and retail tobacco stores.
The details
The restaurant’s patio is 1,370-square-feet, with roughly 650-square-feet available for smoking, according to city documents. A city ordinance forbids smoking within 10 feet of any doors or windows leading to the restaurant’s interior, per city documents.
Nay would provide the tobacco, and restaurant guests will not be allowed to bring their own, owner Ahmed Allami confirmed to the planning commission.
The commission unanimously voted to recommend the special permit to allow the smoking area.
“I’m happy to see new patrons and new tenants in total putting investment in,” Vice Chairman Jeremy Thomason said.
