The City Council approved a permit this week for a Downtown bar that has been operating for nearly eight months without one.
The venue, connected to Ashes II Ashes cigar lounge on South Buchanan Street, had obtained a liquor license from Lafayette Consolidated Government but was missing the special permit required to open bars in the Downtown area. Downtown has a blanket moratorium on new bars.
City staff issued the liquor license by “mistake,” according to LCG Chief Administrative Officer Rachel Godeaux. The business entity, legally separate from the cigar lounge operation, did not apply for the conditional use permit necessary to get around the moratorium…