Marc Michieli met with Alameda County building officials Friday and moved closer to getting permission to open Muzo's Grill on Castro Valley Boulevard despite a ban on walk-up, take-out food stores in the downtown.
Patch told Michieli's story in an article and video interview -- how he initially thought it was OK to re-open the old Takee Outee site only to discover that walk-up food was no longer allowed and he had to pay $4,000 to seek, an exception.
Michieli said Friday that, after talking with county officials, he would get his plans together and pay the $1,500 that they offered as a discounted review of his plans.
"I still have no guarantee," Michieli said. The review could end up costing more; $1,500 is just a deposit. And authorities could nix his plan after seeing his paperwork.
But he said county officials said they had heard from community members in favor of Muzo's and he was optimistic of getting an eventual okay.
Even so it could be February before his request comes up for review and he would be lucky to get his doors open by Valentine's Day.
"It's really been critical to have the community support," said Michieli, who goes into Christmas with more hope than he enjoyed just a few days ago.
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