by Jonathan Copsey / Staff

Mangesh Patel has a problem.

It’s not the economy, or job problems. It’s the road that goes past his business; it doesn’t exist any more.

Patel is the owner of Moksha Indian Restaurant, in the old Lickskillet Farm on Old Roswell Road. For years the old farmhouse on the property has housed restaurants famed throughout North Fulton for their food and secluded location, away from the busy streets of Canton or Highway 9, but close enough that it is easy to get to.

That all changed with the realigning and expansion to the Old Roswell Road/ Mansell Road/ Westside Parkway intersections. Old Roswell Road – where Moksha was located, was redirected away from his property to intersect better with Westside Parkway. Currently, at one end of the stretch of old-Old Roswell Road sits a large pile of debris, complete with sewer pipes and metal sticking out of it. On the other side sits orange construction barrels with a sign saying “Road Closed.” The restaurant sits between these two obstacles and is almost completely invisible from the road.

Owner Patel is understandably upset.

Moksha opened over a year ago, just in time for the construction work to begin, cutting off his end of Old Roswell Road. While this was far from a perfect situation, people wishing to visit the restaurant could easily find it – it was literally the last stop before the construction blocked the road. Now that isn’t even the case.

Patel is doubly annoyed because he sees this as incompetence on the city’s part.

“They made me put in sidewalks and trees, and place the sign where it is, but now there is no road,” said Patel. He recounts the pains of getting his business through the Design Review Board in 2007, where they requested he follow city guidelines that include setbacks from the road, specific sign designs, foliage, etc. all to make the property pleasing and up to code. However, Patel says all this beautification has rendered his business even more invisible from the new road than it otherwise would be. To make matters worse, Patel tried putting up a sign at the orange barrels to point out his business, only to be cited by Code Enforcement.

Unfortunately for Patel, the construction of the road and realigning was planned long before he purchased the business.

“The road was moved for traffic engineering reasons,” said Roswell Mayor Jere Wood. “It was too close to the bridge, there were clearance issues… That decision was made long before Moksha was there.”

Patel said he was told of the construction plans but that, being a state project, actual work might happen anytime between the next day and 10 years from now. Unfortunately for him, it was right as his business opened.

So what is the city doing about it?

Wood said he met with Patel and Alice Wakefield, the Community Development Director, last week to find solutions to his problem. One solution is to make his sign more visible.

“Roswell does not allow offsite signs,” said Wood. “But we may be able to work something out with the neighbor [of the adjoining empty land lot] to put a sign up there… It’s contiguous land so maybe it can comply without an ordinance change.”

Should that not work out, Wood said he is willing to help Patel change the city’s sign ordinance, which would be difficult, but not impossible.

“I’m trying to help them find a solution,” Wood said. “The city needs to help him out.”