Planning Commission deep sixes 'underpool' bar
May 8—Reflecting a national trend, "speakeasy" bars are all the rage around Scottsdale.
The Goose this week joins Poppy's, the renovated Scottsdale Resort and several other Scottsdale watering holes that wink at the "underground" bars of the Prohibition Era.
But one would-be speakeasy that literally wants to be underground — perhaps more accurately, "underpool" — got deep-sixed by the Scottsdale Planning Commission.
The people behind the Maya Day and Nightclub were seeking a recommendation to City Council for a conditional use permit to add a 3,825 square foot "sub-grade" bar.
Talk about "sub" — Maya wants to build "under and adjacent to the existing pool area."
After Joe Young, vice chair of the Planning Commission, recused himself, leaving the room during the April 24 presentation and vote, Maya needed four of the remaining six commissioners votes for approval.
According to the application, Maya is owned by Equity Partners Group LLC — which shares a phone number and apparently is a division of Stockdale Capital Partners, the Yari brothers powerhouse behind the towering, under-construction Maya Hotel, the Maya club and several other Entertainment District nightspots.
The company was represented by project architect Adam Gerhard.
Asked if he had a presentation, Gerhard simply said, "I do not."
He did answer questions, including how many steps down from the ground floor to the "sub-grade" bar: 16.
According to a brief staff presentation, the city required Maya to add 32 parking spaces, based on square footage of the proposed underpool bar.
"They made arrangements with the Galleria to provide those spaces," said Greg Bloemberg, a city planner.
The Scottsdale Fire Department "signed off on" the plan, Bloemberg later said, in answer to a question.
Commissioner George Ertel questioned the below-pool speakeasy.
"So you want to add a basement bar to this existing one?" Ertel pondered, in Gerhard's direction.
"It's really — you know, we talked about density of apartments and ... we certainly have a density of partiers, whatever you choose to call them. So we're adding more business, more noise?"
When Gerhard countered that the noise from the underground bar would be muffled, Ertel raised the notion of people in line for the theoretical speakeasy — and that he didn't expect them to speak softly.
"They won't be reading books on their Kindles as they're waiting in line," he said. "So it's going to add to the noise of the area."
Ertel alluded to a recent proposal for Swags, a three-story restaurant in the Entertainment District that the Yaris and their associates protested against for potential noise.
"So this is another one that's going to add noise," Ertel said. "It's proposed to match the bars of similar intensity. So basically you're doubling down on the noise factor."
After the commission was told the occupancy would be determined by the Scottsdale Fire Department, Commissioner Christian Serena tried to get a number of how many patrons would be in the speakeasy.
Gerhard said "much smaller than upstairs ... most likely around 150 people."
The existing bar can hold up to 1,000, he later said.
Commissioners William Scarbrough, Renee Higgs and Diana Kaminski voted to recommend the Maya speakeasy to Scottsdale City Council.
Barney Gonzales, Serena and Ertel voted against the motion — which failed.
Asked about the next steps for the project, Bloemberg told the Progress, "The Planning Commission is only a recommending body. They do not have the authority to approve or deny, only to make a recommendation to City Council.
"The applicant has a couple of options," he said, via email. "They can continue on to City Council with a recommendation of denial, or they can withdraw."
Gerhard did not reply to a question from the Progress about whether Maya will pitch its speakeasy idea to Council.
