The owners of the Skybox will have to face the city once again before they can reopen the Brown Street bar.

This time, it’s the Zoning Board that will decide whether Skybox will be able to reopen. Owners Allen and Lynn Moore are appealing a decision by Code Enforcement Officer Rick Gouzie, who determined last week that without a kitchen, the establishment is now considered a Class 3 restaurant, rather than a Class 2 restaurant.

Tom Dore, owner of the building at 212 Brown St. and former owner of Skybox, recently renovated the space in order to separate the bar from his wife’s catering company, The Good Chef. The Department of Public Safety’s Liquor Licensing and Compliance Division required those changes be made before it would issue a liquor license to the Moores.

Now, it’s those changes that are preventing the bar from opening. Neither Class 2 nor Class 3 restaurants are permitted in the zone the building is in; however, the property was a Class 2 restaurant before the current zoning was established, so that use was grandfathered.

To try to circumvent the latest hurdle, the Moores will first appeal Gouzie’s decision and argue that their bar is in the same class as the one that closed last March. According to Gouzie, if the Zoning Board agrees with his decision, the Moores will have to apply to the board for a change of use.

The matter is to be discussed at a March 11 meeting at 7 p.m. in Room 114 at Westbrook High School.

Lynn Moore confirmed that she and her husband will challenge Gouzie’s decision, but declined to comment further.

Last month, Allen Moore said he intended to open the bar this March – a year after the City Council denied renewing a liquor license to former owners Tom and Ellen Dore. Weary of fighting for their license, the Dores didn’t appeal the council’s decision to the state, but the Moores, who were patrons of the bar, decided they would take on the challenge themselves.

The council denied a liquor license to the Moores in August – a decision that the state overturned in December with the stipulation that the two businesses would have to be physically separated before the license could be issued.

Last month, after the renovations were finished but before Gouzie made his inspection, Allen Moore spoke confidently about the return of the Skybox.

“This is definitely going to happen,” he said.