Health board approves variance for restaurant's open-hearth fireplace

The Lincoln County Health Board gave the owners of The Shed restaurant Feb. 12 until mid-April to find a way to operate its open-hearth fireplace without violating air quality ordinances.

In a unanimous vote, the board granted restaurateur Cora Gilmore a temporary reprieve to operate both the fireplace and a wood-fired pizza oven until April 15. The board directed Gilmore to seek out possible solutions before coming back before the body’s April meeting.

The decision came after Gilmore voiced concerns that doing away with either hurts business.

“We have a difficulty in this town of keeping businesses [open] — restaurants and that sort of thing,” said George Jamison, board vice chair. “I would hate for this to be something that put a nail in a coffin for a business.”

Gilmore’s restaurant, located on U.S. Highway 2, came under the county health department’s scrutiny after a nearby business filed a complaint about the open-hearth fireplace and wood-fired stove, said Kathi Hooper, department director. Officials sent a cease-and-desist letter to Gilmore on Dec. 23.

Because the wood-fired pizza oven was critical to the restaurant’s business model, department staff granted a 90-day stay pending Gilmore’s Feb. 12 appearance before the health board. But the open-hearth fireplace was deemed aesthetic.

“Open-hearth fireplaces are very inefficient, very dirty,” said Jake Mertes, environmental health specialist with the county. “They generate about 20 times more pollution, they don’t heat the house — they just heat the immediate area — and about 80 percent of heat generated goes right out the flue.”

Gilmore pleaded ignorance, telling health board members she operated under the assumption the open-hearth fireplace predated the county’s air quality standards.

“It’s just a sad thing that I wish that we had known in the beginning,” Gilmore said. “I thought that I was told that it was grandfathered in. To find out right before Christmas, it was pretty big shock that we couldn’t [operate it] during business hours.”

The restaurateur said she had considered alternatives in the intervening months. Switching to propane represented a large expense, Gilmore said. The restaurant staff also has tried illuminating the area with flickering candles, but the effect is not the same, she said.

Gilmore said she was open to other alternatives that allowed her to continue using the open-hearth fireplace, but was unsure how to measure the effect on air quality. Hooper told the board that the staff also faced challenges in measuring the amount of air pollution generated by the fireplace.

“We don’t have any way to monitor it,” she said. “We can read [smoke] opacity, but there is no way to read the emissions. There is no equipment, no way to certify that.”

Mertes said he has seen smoke emanating from the building, and at a level that would conflict with the county’s regulations. But to do a proper visual assessment, he would need to monitor the emissions throughout a full day, Mertes said.

Gilmore said the visual evidence Mertes described likely came from the restaurant’s meat-smoking operation. Once a week, starting at about 8 a.m., the restaurant staff uses hardwood to treat the meat, she said.

Lincoln County Commissioner Mark Peck (D-1), who also serves on the health board, said granting the variances while weighing solutions struck him as an appropriate temporary fix.

“An extension until we make a decision is at least a good compromise,” said Peck.

The board ultimately has the authority to give The Shed a permanent variance for both the fireplace and wood-fired stove, department officials said. County staff could, at most, only grant permission for a solid-fuel burning device if it were EPA-certified, such as a catalytic or pellet stove, Hooper said.

“I don’t think this is a big problem,” Jamison said. “I know rules are rules, and that’s why we have the ability to make variances.”