City Bumps Subway Brouhaha to May

Opponents to  hoped to culminate their campaign Monday night by inciting the City Council to reject of the of the sandwich chain.

They'll have to wait two weeks to find out if that wish will come true.

Lynn Spaulding, the owner of 29 Miller Ave., the  where , hired an attorney and asked the City Council to delay Monday’s hearing of an appeal of the ’s proposal. They did just that unanimously and without discussion, pushing the showdown to May 7.

Spaulding said she’s hired Santa Rosa attorney Jeremy Olsan to represent her at the hearing, hoping to press the issue that the city would infringe on her property rights by rejecting the sandwich chain as a potential tenant.

Spaulding and Patel have faced a in recent weeks from a coalition that includes foodies, opponents to chain businesses and residents of neighborhoods near the proposed Subway, among others.

Local real estate agent Linda Walsh created an anti-Subway online petition on Change.org that has garnered more than 480 signatures to date. She also said she gathered a few hundred signatures on a paper petition over the weekend. 

The transition from one food service business to another in a space smaller than 1,500 square feet normally wouldn't require the need for a Conditional Use Permit and a public hearing. But planning department officials said that because so many of the city's regulations changed over the past 43 years when , Patel and Subway had to go through the public hearing process.

The City Council will hear the Subway appeal on May 7 at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall. Click here to watch the meeting online live or archived.