New Clayton restaurant hinges on ballot issue

The owner of La Fiesta in Troy wants to open a second area restaurant at 8331 N. Main St. (Ohio 48) in the Randolph Plaza in Clayton, but the plans hinge on obtaining voter approval in next week’s election of a local option that would allow the eatery to serve alcohol.

The issue will be decided Tuesday, May 6 by voters in Clayton’s precinct 3-B. The restaurant space previously housed Urban Harvest restaurant, which closed in June 2013 after about eight months in business, and before that, Uptown Delicatessen.

“We’ve been wanting to open a restaurant in that area for a long time,” said Arturo Fuentes, who has operated La Fiesta in Troy for 14 years. “We’re really excited about that location, and hopefully, people will vote for the issue so we can get it passed.”

The new La Fiesta would employ 15 to 25 people, Fuentes said.

Fuentes said he applied for a liquor license for the space but was told by the Ohio Division of Liquor Control that the Randolph Plaza is in a “dry” precinct that does not allow liquor sales. Signatures were gathered on a local-option petition so that the issue could appear on the ballot, Fuentes said.

If the issue passes, the space would be remodeled, and the restaurant would open “as soon as we can,” Fuentes said.

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