Sushi Restaurant Receives Pittsfield's Last Available Liquor License, Board Approves Gateway Sign

A family style restaurant received Pittsfield’s last available liquor license last week, following a unanimous decision made by the Pittsfield Board of Trustees.

The liquor license application submitted to the board for Dabu Sushi, a Japanese and Korean food restaurant located near Ellsworth and Carpenter Road, was approved during Wednesday’s trustee board meeting. Dabu Sushi joins 22 other businesses in Pittsfield with an active liquor license. According to township attorney Andrew Fink, Pittsfield could be eligible to approve more liquor licenses in the future if the township has shown a growth in population following the 2020 census.

Township clerk Michelle Anzaldi, who introduced the license request to the board, said she was happy to help support a small business like Dabu Sushi.

“Although the restaurant is very small, I do think it’s not such a bad idea to have a more niche smaller-type restaurant in the township,” Anzaldi said. “Why not try to advance small businesses and small restaurants in the township, instead of giving these to larger chain restaurants.”

Supervisor Mandy Grewal said she was glad to approve the license, saying she was happy ot see businesses succeed throughout all sides of the township.

“That this restaurant is located on the east side of the township, it’s local, it’s home-grown, it checks off a number of boxes for me,” Grewal said. “It’s very gratifying for me to see that revitalization of the east part of the township.”

New gateway signed approved

The board’s majority approved the purchase of a new gateway sign at a cost not to exceed $27,000. Trustees Gerald Krone and George Ralph voted against the purchase.

The sign will be placed on the southwest corner of Ellsworth Road and Platt Road, and will be the township’s fourth gateway sign. The three other signs can be found at the southwest corner of State Street and Ellsworth Road, the northeast corner of Michigan Avenue and Moon Road, and along the Ann Arbor-Saline Road. Production and installation of the new sign will be carried out by three companies: Signs by Crannie, Dexter Block and Teal Bird Designs.

The purchase was first introduced to trustees during a meeting on March 27, where the board voted then 4-1 to table the proposal.  During Wednesday’s meeting, Anzaldi said she initially voted to table the purchase due to the absence of the board’s supervisor.

Ralph questioned the board’s decision to bring back the purchase request, objecting with the gateway sign’s price tag.

“I think right now we’re in a financial bind, we’ve talked about wanting to build a police department, we want to save some money – I think this is one way to start conserving money as a township, and not spend it on a sign,” Ralph said.

With the project being fully funded through general fund dollars, Grewal said the sign purchase was made possible thanks to careful financial planning.

“We are not a township that is dithering on economic collapse of some sort – far from it, in fact. It has to do a lot with the fact that we have demonstrated being fiscal in our approach, we have been very careful in what we are doing and these requests come to you as a one-time fixed cost, not as recurring costs that would pose a long-term fiscal financial burden on the township,” Grewal said. “This one-time fixed cost is $27,000, which I would like you to think about within the context of about a $30 million budget that you have approved.”

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