After months of controversy, Sebastopol City Council approves alcohol permit for Lowell Sheldon’s new restaurant, but adds more conditions

Sebastopol City Council on Wednesday put an end to a monthslong local dispute over whether an alcohol permit should be granted to Piala Georgian Cuisine, a new Sebastopol wine bar and restaurant co-owned by a local restaurateur accused of sexual misconduct.

After more than three hours of discussion and deliberation, council voted unanimously to approve Piala’s liquor license with added restrictions to Lowell Sheldon’s presence at the restaurant.

In April, a group of community members protested giving the new venture an alcohol permit, arguing it would pose risks to community health, safety and welfare — factors weighed in granting such a permit — given Sheldon’s alleged history of inappropriate workplace behavior, including sexual harassment and, in one instance, sexual assault.

The Planning Department initially agreed.

However, after multiple city hearings with emotional testimony and hundreds of pages of public comment in support and opposition, the Planning Commission ultimately approved the alcohol license after negotiating certain conditions, namely that Sheldon not manage employees directly or consume and serve alcohol on the premises.

If violated, the business could lose its permit.

Jesse Hom-Dawson, representing several former employees and survivors, appealed the commission’s decision to the council July 19 on the grounds that Sheldon and his team did not meet the burden of proof necessary to allay community safety concerns and that the conditions were unlikely to be enforced.

“Dozens of employees have come forward about his behavior,” Hom-Dawson said at the meeting.

She pointed to allegations going back years at Sheldon’s previous establishments, an HR investigation that found policy violations and a statement submitted by a former restaurant co-owner who said Sheldon repeatedly refused to take responsibility for or address his behavior.

“Please, I’m asking you to realize what is at stake. A woman’s life could be permanently affected...This is not something to take lightly as myself and other fellow survivors can attest to,” she said.

The appeal proposed alternative conditions to either deny the permit for a year, bar Sheldon entirely from the premises or remove him from ownership.

In his own testimony, Sheldon took a hard line in denying the accusations against him.

“I don’t harass people drunk or sober,” Sheldon said. “Never have, never will."

Leading up to the meeting, on Aug. 23, Sheldon sent a 2,200-word statement to the City Council, The Press Democrat and his mailing list, saying as much. He blamed the “current culture” and “the alleged victims and the newspapers that aided and abetted them” for the pressure he originally felt to “self-gaslight and absorb blame for crimes I knew I hadn’t committed,” he wrote.

In the past, Sheldon has apologized and acknowledged limited wrongdoing while still disputing most of the accusations.

At the hearing, Sheldon teared up in describing the stress of “vicious character attacks” against him by “activists” and argued the issue to be outside the purview of the Planning Commission or council in deciding on the alcohol permit.

“They should be assessing the use and whether it is appropriate in any given location,” he said, and decide based on “factual convictions, not salacious allegations.”

Like the planning commissioners before them, council members struggled with balancing reservations about Sheldon’s alleged past behavior with questions about the proper venue for weighing such matters.

“This is not the arena to decide whether these allegations are factual. However, our community listens to concerns...and we have a lot of community members that have stepped up,” City Council member Diana Rich said.

“There’s more than just innuendo here. There’s more than rumor. There’s enough for us to give credence to the claim that Lowell Sheldon’s involvement in the restaurant may in fact affect the health safety and welfare of the community. How do we address that issue?”

After an hour threading the needle between worker safety concerns, limits to council authority and reasonable burdens on the business, officials approved the alcohol permit with the planning department’s conditions. They added restrictions of their own — limiting Sheldon to no greater access to the premises than a member of the public, except when the restaurant is closed or no employees are present and he is accompanied by co-owner Jeff Berlin.

There will also be occasional reviews of Piala’s adherence by the city and spot checks by the Sebastopol Police Department.

“This was an unusual item for the City Council...this is not our normal fare,” Mayor Patrick Slayter said after the vote. “I think that the ability of the City Council to take a defensible action has been demonstrated, and we have an administrative record that shows there are safeguards in place.

“That said I continue to have concerns. We’re a small city, and we have one small item in front of us. My heart breaks, and I wish we could figure out as a community and a society how to do better.”

In the end, both parties accepted the council’s compromise.

“We’re excited to open the restaurant and move forward,” Sheldon told The Press Democrat following the meeting. Pending approval by Alcoholic Beverage Control, the plan is for Piala to open at the end of September.

“It’s not the exact outcome that we wanted, but it is great that the City Council recognized what we said and validated it,” Hom-Dawson said.

She added the extra conditions will significantly mitigate potential harm.

“I think the City Council has done what they felt they could within their jurisdiction, and that’s really all we can ask for.”

“In Your Corner” is a new column that puts watchdog reporting to work for the community. If you have a concern, a tip, or a hunch, you can reach “In Your Corner” Columnist Marisa Endicott at 707-521-5470 or marisa.endicott@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @InYourCornerTPD and Facebook @InYourCornerTPD.≥