The former Kilwins chocolate and ice cream shop at 143 Canada St. in Lake George Village will become a counter-service Mexican Restaurant. The owner, Brian Harvey, spoke to the village’s planning board at their meeting last week.
The new restaurant, Taqueria Paloma, will have about 20 seats in the 600 square foot space. He said, he might restrict seating to 19 or fewer since 20 seats requires a public restroom. The state Department of Health has his application, and he knows that a building inspector will have to check his hood vent, he told the board.
The sign should arrive next month.
Also on the docket last week was the proposed change-of-use of the former Lake George Bike Rentals. It is becoming an Auntie Anne’s soft pretzel restaurant.
The Lake George Planning Board quickly approved the shape and style of the sign--a painted pretzel and the words Auntie Anne’s. The commission struggled a bit with how to move people through the store safely with social distancing, especially since part of the point is to watch the people creating the pretzels.
It’s a bit of a show, said Daniel Margolis, who represented the owner at the meeting.
Still, he said, "everything goes right to left, so it's very easy to control crowds that we hopefully will have."
The restaurant is next door to the House of Frankenstein Wax Museum. The pavement at that location is wide, but the planners worried about where the line would snake in relation to the diners at tables outside and the people at the wax museum. They were looking for a plan, said board member Dan Wolfield.
The other major issue that the company and the village worked out, as Auntie Anne’s looks to a May 15 opening, was the sewer line to the street.
Margolis was representing his daughter, the owner, to the board. He said his grandson will also be working there. Margolis and his wife baked and sold pretzels themselves. That is three generations of pretzel makers, he told the board.
Both the taqueria and pretzel shop have more regulations to jump through before they may take custmers.