GROSSE POINTE FARMS — Dominating the city council meeting Monday, March 9, was discussion revolving around the appeal for a use variance for 383 Kercheval to be used as an establishment for the preparation and sale of food for off-site consumption.

The location formerly was Jerry’s Club Party Store, which moved to the space next door approximately two months ago.

The variance was approved in a 5-2 vote for the business Pointe’s Pantry, which is the first proposed business to be considered by the city for the space.

“Pointe’s Pantry will be a local food delivery service for the Grosse Pointe community,” owner Annie Moreland said. “Not just Grosse Pointe Farms, but the surrounding community including a small portion of St. Clair Shores. … Pointe’s Pantry will do that by providing weekly meals, some add-on items that (customers) can fill their pantry with, feed their family and just make their lives a little bit easier.”

The Grosse Pointe Woods resident has run the business three years by renting commercial space in Macomb County and currently has more than 400 regular customers.

“I fully support this idea,” resident and customer Mark Higbie said. “I think it’s a great idea. … We have an opportunity now to bring life to that storefront, that once kind of lost space, and I think it’s fantastic. Gretchen and I, my wife, we use the service. We love it. It is high quality. It is well done. It is reliable.

“It is incredibly helpful to our family,” he continued. “It brings us around the table … and that’s a great benefit for ourselves and our kids and I think it’s a huge, huge benefit to our neighborhood.”

The business aims to provide healthy, already-cooked meal options for delivery Mondays and Wednesdays. Orders will be required to be placed four days prior to the delivery date.

“We are not a restaurant,” Moreland clarified. “When I say food delivery service I’m not talking about a Jersey Mike’s or a Little Caesars Pizza. We are purely here for the community to offer meals each week that are delivered twice a week. It’s family style. It provides a service and a convenience for all those working and busy families. They’re going every which way (and) it’s really difficult to sit down for dinner.

“As we know, Grosse Pointe is a busy community,” she added. “We put a lot of energy into what we do and our children and that also leaves for less time together as a family. Pointe’s Pantry is hoping to provide a little bit more of that family unit that we hold so dear here in Grosse Pointe and hope to get our families around a kitchen table more together.”

The food Pointe’s Pantry uses will be locally sourced from the Grosse Pointes.

“We hope to provide this service so that, in general, we can maybe get away from the Grubhubs and the DoorDashes and all of those things that are coming into Grosse Pointe from outside the community (and we can) provide healthier meal-based options for our community,” Moreland said. “There’s a huge need for this. There are multiple chefs around the community that are doing something similar. We’re just hoping to be that storefront in a specific area that is centrally located to so many families within the community.”

Moreland plans to sign the initial lease for a five-year period.

While five neighboring residents sent in letters of support, multiple residents also showed up to voice hesitations and opposition, with some residents even suggesting no business be allowed to occupy the space and it be made residential.

One of the biggest concerns was the creation of additional traffic in the area. To combat this, Moreland agreed to conditions that no more than three employees will work any given shift; hours of operation will be limited from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; delivery to customers will be on Mondays and Wednesdays to not conflict with additional traffic from weekend events; and no walk-ins will be allowed between 3:30 and 5 p.m. on weekdays, which is when children are walking home from school in the area.

Additionally, Moreland estimates only 10 percent of the business will be walk-in based.

Other concerns included waste disposal and ventilation.

Due to the potential for vermin and odor, Moreland agreed to avoid using a dumpster. The current plan is to use three rubbish bins, which will be housed within the building in a back garbage room until the scheduled pick up.

“With the ventilation, we look to utilize some combi ovens,” Moreland explained. “Combi ovens allow you to have ventless hoods, as well as an induction stovetop. There is a possibility that we will have to have one small, 10-inch vent. If that is the case and we are able to move forward with that, we would likely move that out to the back of the building.”

Councilwoman Beth Konrad-Wilberding voted against approval of the use variance, citing the risk of increased traffic.

“I am very excited about your business and I would seriously maybe be your 401st customer … but here’s the problem I have: I don’t think this particular facility is the right match for you, because you’re going to be successful and you are going to grow,” she said. “ … I just have too many reservations and I have too much faith in you with this business idea that it’s going to be much bigger than what this facility’s going to allow.”

Moreland explained she does anticipate growth of the business, but would open additional facilities in other cities if it came to that point.

Councilman Neil Sroka suggested a friendly amendment to the proposal, which would state no walk-in business be allowed.

“The applicant did say that the business could go forward without pick up and there’s a lot of concern about traffic,” he said. “I might argue that we could put forward and say there’s no pick up at this facility, with the idea being that if this becomes a hardship perhaps later, she could come back and ask, ‘I need to be relieved of this,’ and we could specifically deal with that problem alone at a later date.”

This was turned down and Sroka joined Konrad-Wilberding in voting against the use variance.