Jim Dandy's Wants To Create Shipping Container Bar

OAK CREEK, WI — Charlie Dewitt, the owner of Oak Creek eatery and bar Jim Dandy's has been working to get a double-decker container bar off the ground. The container likely won't be open this summer, but Dewitt hopes to get it approved and in use as early as this winter.

The container would sit outside Jim Dandy's as a complement to the restaurant's outdoor area.

Oak Creek Plan Commission documents show that the bar is a repurposed shipping container with a bar on the first "floor" and a patio on top. A set of wooden stairs would lead up to the upstairs patio.

Dewitt said he's been unable to get the shipping container bar approved. He had hoped that it would be open for this summer, but he told Patch that it's unlikely. If possible, Dewitt would like to use the bar in the winter time to create a "Santa's Village" complete with an ice skating rink.

Dewitt said that there aren't always that many great family events in the Oak Creek area, and he hopes that the future planned Santa's Village could be something new for the community.

Dewitt added that the Santa's village would have trees and a Santa Claus.

The City of Oak Creek and Dewitt have been working together to get the bar approved, but many steps to the formal process remain.

Dewitt would have to open the proposed bar to public comment during a city meeting and see it through all the necessary permits. A Plan Commission meeting to discuss the shipping container's temporary use as a double decker bar this summer is scheduled for July 27.

Laurie Miller, a zoning and administrator and planner for Oak Creek told Patch that Dewitt has more official meetings to go before the use can be approved — Public input from the proposed bar's neighbors is key.