Cathedral is finding it hard to love its neighbor

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is ''in an uproar'' over a tea room's effort to add beer and wine to its menu.

By KELLEY BENHAM
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 19, 2002

TARPON SPRINGS -- The Oxford House Tea Room wants to serve beer and wine along with its scones and finger sandwiches. But the Greek Orthodox church next door is not happy about it.

The Rev. Tryfon Theophilopoulos envisions a day when the quaint little restaurant evolves into a bar, when beer cans defile the church parking lot and when drunks wander over by the church school and harass the children.

"We are in an uproar over here," said Theophilopoulos, head of the 1,000-member St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral on Pinellas Avenue.

The tea house has applied to the city for a conditional beer and wine license. The restaurant in the 100-year-old historic building is open only four hours a day for lunch.

"We're never going to be a bar," owner Janet Jones said. "We're a nice place."

The issue will come before the city's planning and zoning board at its meeting Monday at 7 p.m.

The board has already recommended approving the license once, but the City Commission delayed its vote so that the distance between the restaurant and the church could be remeasured.

That distance has been measured a number of times and a number of ways. City code requires 200 feet between the door of a church and the door of a drinking establishment.

The distance between the front door of the cathedral and the front door of the Oxford House is well over 200 feet, following the sidewalk as the code requires.

The problem with that, Theophilopoulos said, is that stumbling drunks won't use the sidewalk. It's just 100 feet from the Oxford House to the nearest church building using the normal pedestrian route, he said. There are no fences.

"It's next to our schools. It's next to our children," he said.

City Attorney John Hubbard said he tried to measure conservatively and that the buildings are far enough apart, according to the code.

"We just did it just as carefully as we could," he said.

That does not mean the application will be approved. That's up to the City Commission, Hubbard said. The public can comment on the issue at the planning and zoning meeting or at the next commission meeting in November.

The church and the restaurant met with the city last week but did not reach a compromise. The two establishments have been good neighbors for years, Hubbard said, and they generally respect each other.

"Everybody was liking everybody except for this one conflict," he said.

Jones did not expect so much fuss. She just wants her customers to be able to drink a glass of champagne at special events or sip wine with a meal, she said. She would like to expand her wedding reception business and, someday, open for dinner.

She sees the beer and wine license as a first step.

Theophilopoulos sees it as a first step toward the decline of the neighborhood.

He worries that if the Tea Room gets its way, other restaurants on the street will want to serve alcohol, too.

He plans to protest the license from the pulpit this weekend, and he expects a heavy turnout at the upcoming meetings.

"See what happens," he said, confident of his ability to draw a crowd.

"We'll drown them."

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