Patti Jo Peterson
You can get almost anything on Craig’s List, including a $375,000 riverboat/floating restaurant in Plattsmouth.
Castaway Pointe’s riverboat/restaurant is for sale on Craig’s List, which shipwrecks the idea of a new casual dining experience for Plattsmouth area residents.
"Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain zoning from the city to open the boat as a restaurant on a temporary basis this summer, and without a source of income it is uneconomical to keep her waiting for the development to fill," explained Thom Neese of Rensch Group NP Dodge in an email to The Journal. "We expect to work with the city in the future to develop a different and similarly unique and interesting restaurant bar and grill as demand allows."
Neese added that Castaway Pointe partners are still excited about the marina development’s future.
"We have enjoyed a great summer of happy homeowners enjoying life on the river at Castaway Pointe, many boating enthusiasts and are extremely excited to show off our new Cottage Resort development with homes starting around $150,000 in the spring," Neese writes.
Plattsmouth City Administrator Erv Portis agreed the marina property is very developable.
The city, however, is unable to grant "temporary zoning," because there is no such thing. "You don’t give temporary zoning," Portis said. "We’ve encouraged them all summer long to submit an application for zoning, so they could do a restaurant in compliance with the city ordinances."
No application was made, Portis said.
"Regarding zoning, how can we refuse to give them zoning when they have not made application for zoning changes?" he said. "They have been told that to operate a restaurant they must submit an application to amend the Planned Unit Development, which includes paying their fees. They have not yet done so. We can’t turn a blind eye to a non-conforming use."
Enforcing zoning regulations for some and not others is unfair. "If you go out and enforce zoning on someone else but not them, zoning becomes arbitrary," Portis said.
Although headway has been made on the infrastructure required for Castaway Pointe, a few details remain unfinished.
"The storm sewer to the marina is still left," Portis said. "The river level is too high, so they are searching for other ways to get that done. Testing of the water mains also remains to be done."
In the meantime, Jeff Haight, owner of Double Down Sports Bar and Grill in Plattsmouth, had arranged to operate the riverboat restaurant for two years.
When he learned about the riverboat’s listing on Craig’s List, Haight said he didn’t know what was going on.
"I knew nothing about this," he said.
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