Board votes in favor of planned expansion at Uncle Harry’s
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Although a number of granular details still need to be fleshed out, Waterford officials have given tentative approval to expansion plans at a venerable village business.
The Village Board on June 14 discussed the latest sets of plans at Uncle Harry’s, 100 S. Jefferson Street. Current owners Jay and John Noble have proposed a building addition and an expansion of the establishment’s longtime custard concept.
During extensive deliberations, Village Administrator Zeke Jackson informed the board the Nobles are still working through a range of details about their plans for Uncle Harry’s. He described the planning documents furnished to date as being done on “a shoestring” budget.
According to information included in the board packet, the Nobles plan to springboard from the establishment’s core frozen sweet treat offering. The revised business model also includes a cheese factory and hamburger restaurant.
Submitted renderings indicate a planned 520-square-foot addition onto the existing building and the incorporation of a new 2,770-square-foot pad to connect parking.
Jackson said there are a number of technical details that still need to be fleshed out. A topographic survey, for example, has yet to be furnished to reflect the expansion.
Nonetheless, the board opted to move forward and approve a preliminary development agreement that touches on the planned changes for the business, which has been a Waterford mainstay since the 1980s when it opened within a converted gas station and was named after original owner Harry Dembroski.
Approval of the agreement comes with a caveat — the Nobles are to have all of the loose ends tied up within the next year. The improvements, Jackson said, will be examined through the lens of the village code.
The code, Jackson said, is not arbitrary and is designed “to achieve an end set of goals.”
Because of the parcel, Jackson said there are other technical factors that will need to be considered, including access points to and from the facility.
“Our interest in this isn’t so much the building, but everything around the building,” he said.
The board’s vote of support for the development agreement was unanimous, though board members aired varied viewpoints on the plans.
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