City of Berkley and Vinsetta Garage Postpones Decision Related to Parking Consent Judgement

Media contacts: Torri Mathes, City of Berkley; 248-658-3333; tmathes@berkleymich.net

Berkley, MI – January 7, 2020 – The City of Berkley and 27799 Woodward LLC have been working towards finding a resolution to the litigation and parking issues surrounding the Vinsetta Garage restaurant on Woodward Avenue.


Since the business’s inception in 2012, there have been parking difficulties for its patrons. In turn, the neighboring streets have been subjected to an increase in on-street parking.

Vinsetta had obtained two of the three lots along Eaton Road which is shared with Lugo Properties, who owns the T-Mobile store along Woodward and Eaton. The two businesses had been unsuccessful in finding common ground with how the lot would be maintained and shared. In addition, Vinsetta had purchased four properties off of Oxford Road adjacent to their restaurant as another attempt to alleviate the parking issues. Their request was to have the Oxford properties rezoned from residential to parking. However, this was denied by Berkley City Council in October of 2016 due to the failure to develop the lots on Eaton Road for parking. The City has since stepped in and has worked to negotiate a solution that would have an optimal outcome for the residents in the area.

Vinsetta initially sought to rezone all four lots on Oxford, and then reduced their request to three and a half lots. Following court-mandated mediations and negotiations that resulted from the process, Vinsetta agreed to half of the four lots on Oxford for parking and the City required two new houses (996 and 984 Oxford) be built on the other two lots in order to draw a hard line between the commercial and residential districts. The City was also able to readdress and agree with Vinsetta and Lugo Properties to reinstate an Eaton Collaborative Agreement which would facilitate the development of an expanded parking lot on Eaton Road.

If this case were not settled, the outcome of winning or losing the case would have resulted in either maintaining the status quo of a parking overflow in the residential streets or Vinsetta Garage tearing down all four homes on Oxford, the Eaton parking lot not being completed, and the City potentially paying monetary damages.

The consent judgement was considered by City Council on Monday, January 6, 2020, and was postponed to a special meeting to occur within the month of January. The postponement was determined in order to amend the corresponding language of the Planning Commission role within the consent judgement and to eliminate the concept plan.

Following the special meeting, should the consent judgment be approved, it would be submitted to the court for final approval.

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