The Gearhart City Council will take a second look at its decision to deny a permit that would have allowed video poker machines at a new brew pub in a neighborhood down the road from City Hall.

At an emergency meeting Wednesday night, the council voted unanimously to reconsider its denial of a permit application submitted by Terry Lowenberg, owner of Gearhart Crossing.

The Planning Commission denied the permit in January and the council upheld the denial in April, citing concerns about maintaining the neighborhood character and saying there was no proven need for the machines at the pub. Lowenberg, who had appealed the Planning Commission’s decision, appealed the council’s decision to the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

The city then had the option to let the appeal go forward or to bring the application back for reconsideration.

City Attorney Peter Watts recommended the council reconsider the permit application. While the council and the Planning Commission came to the same conclusion to not allow video poker machines at Gearhart Crossing, city councilors had slightly different reasons for their “no” votes, Watts said. Currently, the findings the state would see only reflect the Planning Commission’s reasoning. If the council brought the permit back, this would give them a chance to make sure the official findings represented the opinions and conclusions of both groups.

In reconsidering the permit, “obviously the City Council could come to a different conclusion (about the permit),” Watts said. “They could come to the same conclusion. I’m not sure what will happen. It would be a reconsideration but whatever conclusion the City Council comes to we would make sure that the findings (reflect) that conclusion.”

“I still question why we’re expending so much political capital, if you will, fighting this,” said City Councilor Dan Jesse. He was the only one to vote in the permit’s favor in April.

“Well I think the good news is it’s for reconsideration,” Mayor Matt Brown said. “So we have a lot of choices depending on what happens in the reconsideration.”

The five councilors voted unanimously to bring the permit back and review it a second time.

The city is now required to hold another public hearing, something it plans to do as soon as possible — likely in late June or early July. Anyone who testified at the previous hearing, whether for or against the lottery machines, can speak again.

Lowenberg and his lawyers believe the city’s denial of the permit ignores state law and that Lowenberg does not need the city’s approval to install the lottery machines.

“The denial does not appear to be based on any relevant fact, but rather on a prejudice against gaming and the people that participate gaming,” Lowenberg wrote in his appeal.